Splatoon: Remastered
by Whirling Star
Summary: Deep underground, tensions were brewing, fear was rising. When the first strike came, it was discreet- yet soon noticed by all of the surface city, once helpfully pointed out... but something strange was afoot down there. Plans were made, Agents were too busy to do the job, a traveller hung between both sides. All it took was one squid to shift the balance. Thus, our tale begins...
1. Prologue: When the Last Light's Out

**Hello, readers! After having played Splatoon, Splatoon 2 and the Octo expansion, I saw the lack of story for the most part- and decided to try my hand at stringing up whatever canon information I can find with my own Creative Powers into a story (possibly trilogy if I actually stick to my own ideas) about Splatoon and the sentient sea creatures within it.**

 **I have a few chapters all written out already, and I hope to stay ahead with them as I unfold this tale. Each chapter will be posted on weekends (hopefully** **Saturday), if all goes well.**

* * *

 ** _~ Prologue: When the Last Light's Out ~_**

 ** _Unknown Time_** _-Floor Unknown of Unknown_

The shadows flickered across the smooth, dull grey walls, cast by the many large torches hastily fastened to the floor and hanging somewhat loosely from the ceiling. The whole room -actually, not just this room but the whole of this underground city- radiated an atmosphere of doom, and gloom, terror and everything wrong.

In this room, the walls were smooth. In others, especially corridors, they were cracked, or perhaps patched up to the point that there was barely a single atom of the original wall remaining intact. All of them creaked ominously at all times, a sound accompanied by the quiet echoes of heavy footsteps belonging to the octopi dashing or speed-walking their way forwards on the floors above- or perhaps, if one cared to carefully listen while standing alone on the top floors, the echos would come from all the ignorant squids living it up in the city built atop all their heads.

One particular octopus quietly and carefully walked along one such barely-lit corridor. She wore the standard Octoling Corps uniform- a thin, anti-Inkling metal plate worn over a black t-shirt with equally black leggings and a belt, from which a pair of protective, night-vision battle-goggles hung. However, she wasn't your standard Octoling, belonging to the rank of Elite Octoling. Therefore, her four tentacles were black (as opposed to the standard bright red) and two long leaves of kelp were tucked between them, defying gravity by holding themselves up to sway gently in the stale, dry air. Holding her moderate-quality octoshot with the utmost care, she silently brooded on how far the situation here had fallen…

It had never been particularly great, but now that electricity levels had reached an all-time low, more and more homes, areas, and academy branches were deteriorating before simply collapsing in on themselves, to be -at best- reduced to a pile of rocks from which nothing could be salvaged, lest the interference cause something else to collapse as well. Even the lights were gone, put out in order to put the electricity to better use in helping to prevent further deterioration.

The meeting of The Authorities that she was currently walking to hoped to settle on a plan to rectify the situation, though personally, she was losing all hope in this place. Commander Catherine Catfish let out a sigh, wondering -not for the first time- if she might have been better off following her sister's path and not becoming so deeply involved in this near-impossible situation. Once again, she banished the thought and reviewed her meagre list of suggestions within her mind instead.

The Elite Octoling soon arrived at the (thankfully still intact) meeting hall, and took her place at the back with the other Elite Octolings, of which there were only ten. They all looked the same, really, especially as Cathrine was the only one here not wearing her battle-goggles on the grounds that they hid her emotions too much for an important meeting like this. However, many of the Octolings who'd grown up down here disagreed, believing the old nonsense that emotions got on the way of business, but she wasn't about to start thinking that they should all agree with her on that score.

Standing near the sides of the hall were some Octarians, representatives from the Electricity Research Department if she was remembering correctly. The singular tentacles (that more or less made up their entire bodies) were moving back and forth as the Octarian clones worriedly talked amongst themselves in quiet voices. They stopped talking the second the door opened to reveal a proud, practically ancient old Octoling, who'd been stuck in octopus form for the last century and had developed a new form all on his own.

His stern, glowing lime-green eyes and purple irises scanned the hall. Upon confirming that everyone important was present, he adjusted his grip in his wasabi sticks and swiftly took his place in the centre of the room, lifting his head so that his golden, octopus-shaped battle helmet glinted almost menacingly in the flickering torchlight.

"As you are all obviously aware," DJ Octavio spoke with plenty of force, taking the attention of everyone in the room, "we still have a severe lack of Zapfish, or indeed any other kind of electricity source. I have tried negotiating with those selfish and unintelligent squids for the past few months and NOTHING has come of it!" The old octopus paused to give the roof a particularly threatening glower, no doubt meant for the Inklings far above their heads. He then quite suddenly turned his attention to an unlucky member of the Electricity Research Department. "Well?!" He demanded, "Are you going to tell me if you've found a solution or not?!"

"Eeep! We, uh, did, Sir, but it involves fighting the Salmonids over their Power Eggs and…" The Octarian's voice trailed off as DJ Octavio gave him a glare that might as well have turned him into stone, and another Octarian bravely piped up from where his colleague left off.

"We found that Salmonid Power Eggs are a viable alternative source of electricity, provided that we used a little energy from a different source first to get the reaction going. Unfortunately, to get enough electricity to power our entire city we'd need a constant supply of Power Eggs, Sir." The Octarian stood tall (well, as tall as he could get, which was actually rather short) and reported the information almost like a well-programmed machine. "This is exceedingly difficult due the the Salmonids being a powerful warrior race, and they will not respond to any means of communication whatsoever."

At this, the DJ turned his eyes on the Elite Octoling next to Cathrine, who was standing about as rigidly as the Octarian who'd just finished speaking, in expectation. "The Wasabi Supply Unit received some charged Power Eggs from the Electricity Research Department and found them to be perfectly compatible with the Zapfish-orientated designs for weapons." She reported at once.

"Engineer Ida, you will be in charge of designing some kind of safeguard to guarantee that we can send some squads after the Salmonids for Power Eggs and get most of them back alive." Ordered DJ Octavio the moment he heard this, before turning back to address the entire room. "In the meantime, the situation has grown desperate. Since them squids won't negotiate, I'm suggesting we give up on that and take the Zapfish anyway. They're all so oblivious that they won't even notice the difference. Any opinions?"

There was instant muttering among everybody here. On one hand, nobody wanted to antagonise the Inklings further, seeing as they might well drive octopi to extinction if they decided to attack them. On the other hand… Cathrine was displeased to hear the other Elite Octolings (Except the Engineer, who was ignoring the talk in favour of scribbling down ideas for life-preserving machines that might work against the Salmonids) start coming to the conclusion that the DJ was right and that they really had no choices left, save getting destroyed by the Salmonids instead should they choose to go after _their_ power source. At least, they reasoned, the Inklings were sentient.

"I don't like the idea." Said Cathrine, gripping her octoshot, "Inklings are formidable fighters, and when they find out they will be justifiably annoyed and will try to take their Zapfish back. I'd say harvesting Power Eggs from Salmonids might be the better idea- we could use weapons such as flooders, for example, to give us an edge so that we can keep on getting more and more Power Eggs- and the Salmonids live in the sea, they're unlikely to bother coming mainland just to attack us- whereas the Inkling are _just above our heads!_ "

This sparked a small wave of disagreement from most of the other Elites, who were countering by pointing out that they would have to continually fight Salmonids all the time if they went for Cathrine's idea and that, once they had the Zapfish, they could use their machines to drive off the more primitive Inklings and keep them afterwards.

"For what it's worth," murmured Engineer Ida, "I see the point you're trying to make. But that solution would never work forever. We just don't have enough forces. Or supplies." She didn't even look up from her notepad as she stated this, but her gentle, considering tone of voice was enough for Cathrine to feel relieved that _someone_ was willing to think about the alternatives to possibly reenacting The Great Turf War.

Unfortunately… "I see your point as well," Cathrine replied to her, "but I still think we could make it work. _Anything_ would be better than causing an even bigger rift between ourselves and our neighbours!" The Engineer didn't reply, but she seemed to be considering Cathrine's opinion, at least. Cathrine walked a bit closer to the Octarians in the room to hear what they thought- which turned out to be that they were in favour of Octavio's plan, on the grounds that the Zapfish were easier to get and currently the more reliable source of electricity.

"Well." Said DJ Octavio, sounding somewhat smug and letting the tentacles crossed across his front relax a little, "It seems we've reached an agreement. All Commanders will be forming both defence and offence squads to obtain and protect the Zapfish. The Wasabi Supply Unit will be designing weapons specifically to protect the Zapfish and preserve the life of anyone who gets sent after the Salmonids. And the Electricity Research Department will do what they've always done. Now everybody leave! You've got jobs to do!"

Just like that, the meeting was over and, as far as Cathrine's sinking feeling was concerned, they'd just agreed to wage a covert war on Inkopolis.

* * *

His menacing, fully green eyes stared after Commander Catfish long after she'd left. Despite appearances, she wasn't like everyone else here, who'd grown up under his regime. Catfish had come from the surface, bringing new information, new ideas and possibly a new (and invaluable, should she pick his side) ally. However, utilising all three of those things was like trying to fire a splatgun stuffed full of enemy ink- in other words, Catfish could be just as great a threat as she was an ally, and the same went for her (currently neutral) sister. DJ Octavio made a mental note to send one of The Faction to keep an eye on her.

With that out of the way, the octopus -well, it wasn't exactly _walking,_ due to his eight limbs all being tentacles- moved down a different corridor to the others, carefully making sure nobody else was watching where he was going. They didn't need to know, they'd probably not understand, especially with Catfish spreading her new-age ideas everywhere. DJ Octavio soon reached a carefully hidden grate -that simply looked like another part of the air supply system- and dived into it.

The other side of the grate, past a two-way pipeway, was a secret area that only The Faction and Octavio knew about. It was just as desolate as everything else down here, but actually a bit sturdier. The walls had proper built-in torches. There were a few doorways, from which exactly eighty younger, blank-faced Octolings came out in organised rows. Octavio narrowed his eyes at them, but none of them spoke. They didn't need to. They knew what to do already… Past Octavio's watching eyes, each squad of four left through the same grate their leader had just come through at intervals of ten minutes- a necessary precaution, just in case someone on patrol duty saw them all arriving from one direction and started asking questions.

Squad Sixteen -the Spy Squad- were waiting for orders just outside the grate once all the others had gone past. Perfect. They were trained to keep an eye on anyone on his own side who might be a threat in disguise…

"One-Sixteen. Go join the patrol-duty group and report to me if you see someone… highly unusual… trick the dunderheads into letting her through. Two-Sixteen, you will join Commander Cathrine Catfish's Zapfish Collection Squad by any means possible and report any and all suspicions you have about Catfish or whomever else she picks. Three-Sixteen, remain close to the surface and tell me the activities of my… old foe. And Four-Sixteen, you keep a general watch on _everyone Elite-Ranked_ and report anything that looks like betrayal."

Squad Sixteen nodded as one before going their separate ways so they could follow his orders. With that settled, the DJ made his way down several flights of stairs (they _did_ have elevators, but like everything else needed electricity to power them), tapping his wasabi sticks together somewhat irritably, before turning into a particularly shadowy corner and unlocking the door set into the local stone.

Once safely locked inside his office, DJ Octavio looked over his plans with a grim frown upon his face. _(You Inklings took almost everything away from me. You forced my kind underground and left us all to dry up…)_ He sat down on the chair in front of his desk, slamming his front two tentacles (the ones not holding wasabi sticks) onto the desk in a decisive manner. _(Well, now we're taking back what's ours. Let's see how YOU LOT like it!)_ The old octopus looked up at several blueprints, each one showing a different weapon that would -without a doubt- protect all his precious octopi once they had enough energy to power them.

 _(End of the line, Inklings.)_


	2. Chapter 1: The Girl from Inkopolis

_Last Time…_

 ** _Unknown Time_** _\- Floor Unknown of Unknown_

 _Electricity levels had reached an all-time low…_

 _The meeting of The Octopus Authorities hoped to settle on a plan to rectify the situation…_

 _"_ _Well." Said DJ Octavio, sounding somewhat smug and letting the tentacles crossed across his front relax a little, "It seems we've reached an agreement. All Commanders will be forming both defence and offence squads to obtain and protect the Zapfish. The Wasabi Supply Unit will be designing weapons specifically to protect the Zapfish and preserve the life of anyone who gets sent after the Salmonids. And the Electricity Research Department will do what they've always done. Now everybody leave! You've got jobs to do!"_

 _Just like that, the meeting was over and, as far as Commander Cathrine Catfish's sinking feeling was concerned, they'd just agreed to wage a covert war on Inkopolis._

 _(Well, now we're taking back what's ours. Let's see how YOU LOT like it!)_ _The DJ Octavio looked up at several blueprints, each one showing a different weapon that would -without a doubt- protect all his precious octopi once they had enough energy to power them._

 _(End of the line, Inklings.)_

* * *

 ** _~Chapter One: The Girl from Inkopolis~_**

BEEP! … BEEP! … BEEP!

"Uggghhh… I'm gettin' up…"

BEEP! … BEEP! … BEEP!

The Inkling mumbled a little more and rolled over, reaching an inky, sticky, and still slightly pinky hand over to her old bedside table- only to feel nothing but dry, splintery old wood at her fingertips. "Oh… Right…" She mumbled, dragging herself out of bed. She wasn't even wearing pyjamas, just to be sure she'd remember _why_ she was up so ridiculously early.

BEEP! … BEEP! … BEE- Click.

"Quiet, Infernal Alarm System, you've more than won your point." The girl shook herself off, and whatever bright pink tints remaining on her slightly-tanned skin were gone, leaving her completely in her "Kid" Form, as everybody called it. The time on her mobile phone -also her "Infernal Alarm System"- read **8:04 am**. Early… far, _far,_ _FAR_ too early for any self-respecting squid to be up.

Alas, one could not catch the fish if one never sacrificed the bait, and she really, _really_ needed that fish.

Willow Cepha, as few people knew her, was DONE with this place; she had been for the last few years. The room around her was still terribly normal, with clothes strewn about on the floor, a TV plugged into the far wall, and various things lying on the table and shelves all around the wall.

If someone were to actually look _properly_ , they'd see that the clothes on the floor were _totally DRY_ (that is to say, crimes against fashion or just plain outdated), the TV had a thin crack across the screen, the wire connecting it to the wall was frayed, and that anything actually important was gone, leaving nothing behind but completely useless and mostly long-since broken nicknacks.

The display of normalcy was sure to fool the parents for as long as she needed.

Rubbing her eyes, the young squid scanned the room one last time for anything important to her survival that she may need to take to her little flat 'round the other side of Inkopolis. She spotted nothing, save her beloved Squidphone Plus. Good. It had taken a very, very long while (plenty of time for the parents to redeem themselves!), but she'd built up a good Turf War rep, found a cheap place far, far away from here and had slowly -over a schedule of two months- moved the stuff she actually wanted over there and left substitutes lying around over here to fool the parents.

The amount of "Freshness" she'd built up wasn't anything particularly special yet, but it was enough to get her out of here.

The rest of the house was perfectly immaculate, without a single drop of ink staining the perfectly polished wooden floors and banisters. The lights were all off, of course, but even by phone light the picture frames displaying a total LIE to all the parent's guests gleamed, as if freshly wiped and polished. Stepping outside -for GOOD this time- Willow turned her softly glowing, deep jade green irises on the shiny white front door -which had hurt her eyes ever since the parents repainted it- one last time.

Relief filled her as she turned and walked, quite confidently, away from that house. Willow idly wondered how long it would take before the parents noticed she was GONE, not just sulking in her "Salmonid Isle of a room" (Their words, not hers) after that last meticulously-triggered fight over some unimportant thing that was conveniently placed there to be argued about. Well, she _had_ warned them, several times. Not her fault if they were incapable of figuring out exactly to what extent she existed.

If someone else had seen her that early morning, the only sign of how tired she was would have been her bright, bubblegum pink tentacles hanging limply and lifelessly by her sides. Everything else suggested her to be more energetic than she'd been for the past year. Or ever, really.

The eighth of August last year, the day she'd turned fourteen. The _eighteenth_ of August last year, the day she'd mastered the Shifting of her Form at last. And now. **8:08 am** on the first of January, her long-awaited new year's resolution to leave, live, and never come back. She couldn't help but feel that this was it- the in-between, the open waters. She was no longer a kid but not yet a squid, done with school just like everyone else and setting off to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. Not that the parents cared about _her_ opinion. Or anything to do with her as a cephalopod. Or even as a person.

Living with them was akin to living with any old stranger. _Morgan_ knew her far better than they did, and she was a traveller on a journey of self-discovery who tended to show up for few months before going on her way to visit her sister, before coming back again a few weeks later to repeat the process. _(Heh. It was_ _Morgan_ _who taught me what everyone else's parents taught_ _them_ _! All because they had their_ _favourite prestigious daughter_ _and forgot about the spare! But… It was never_ _her_ _fault._ _She_ _tried to make them_ _all_ _see sense-)_

Willow shook off her bitter thoughts and focused on where she was going. Once she was just past the main road, she turned down an alley that served as a shortcut to Inkopolis Plaza, one she'd been using ever since The Politicians had sent someone to install one of those fancy new jump pads to the end of it. The parent's house had a private super jump signal, so getting back had been just as easy.

Thinking of that, the young Inkling stopped and swiped a few screens on her phone. Then she deleted its connection to the house signal. Twice. Thrice, including the backups. Feeling satisfied, she put her phone securely in the pocket of her Zekko Hoodie, her now free hand wandering to her Splattershot Jr., which was slotted neatly on a specifically-made holder below the ink tank attached to her back.

Because she could, and because some jerk had left some _really unfriendly_ purple-red ink lying around -the stuff was unlike anything she'd ever seen, it was softly glowing like her eyes and ink just doesn't DO that!- she covered the entire area with her own bubblegum pink ink, climbing walls and slipping through grates to reach the jump pad at last.

The Inkling paused for a moment to admire the view. The sun was up, casting its rays over what seemed like all of Inkopolis. Even from here, Willow could pick out the cars, the shops… and of course, Inkopolis Tower, from which everybody could play Turf War. She squinted slightly at the tower… _(Hmmm… Is it just me, or is something missing?)_ Shrugging, she morphed into her squid form and let the jump pad propel her halfway to her little flat.

One long jump and a taxi later, Willow flopped onto the bed at her rented flat. The place may have been cheap, but it wasn't sketchy or anything, it was just a bit far from Inkopolis Plaza, that was all. The bed was in the corner opposite the door, the "kitchen" -or rather, the fridge, oven and the microwave on top of the oven- were in the corner right in front of the door. There was a small table (with drawers that contained stuff like cutlery and cups) and a couple of chairs in front of the fridge, oven and microwave. The young squid kept everything else in the closet next to the door, where a working TV was plugged in beside it and an armchair was in front of that. There was even a tiny, closet-sized bathroom here as well- a shower, toilet, towels and sink. All a bathroom needed, really. Along with the appropriate cleaning things, of course.

Once in her pyjamas, Willow was just about to catch up on her lost sleep when the TV suddenly went out of sleep mode and the familiar news tune played. Within a second, she was sitting in the armchair, paying close attention to the screen. As always, the World-Famous Pop Stars -The Squid Sisters (who were actually cousins)- showed up on the screen.

All the steps they'd taken on their rise to the Ultimate Freshness had been on the TV, in the media and all over the internet ever since the two had mastered Shifting Forms _a few years_ _early_ _,_ on the same day they'd won Inkopolis's first annual Youth Folk-Singing Contest. Willow knew them all.

"News flash! News flash!" Callie of the Squid Sisters announced, genuinely excited. The pop star's extremely long, mostly black tentacles waved about animatedly despite the timing.

"What is it? What is it?!" Marie of the Squid Sisters asked, clearly trying her best to keep up with her cousin and partner- though her tied-up white tentacles drooped as best they could, as if she actually wanted this news flash done with already.

"Inkopolis's Great Zapfish has… vanished!"

"WHAT?!" Yelped Willow at the screen, which showed Inkopolis Tower of yesterday, with the Great Zapfish, and today… without it!

"Wait, seriously?" Asked Marie in an impressively sarcastic voice… while going pale alongside Callie.

"If it isn't recovered soon, are we gonna lose power?"

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine… probably." The Squid Sisters looked at one another nervously.

"I wonder if it has anything to do with that UFO crash?"

The screen behind the Squid Sisters changed on cue to show what was indeed some kind of UFO, which had a large, alien bright red tentacle coming out the top. Strangely enough, the suckers of that tentacle were on the outside, rather than the inside. How odd…

"Sounds likely to me!" Replied Marie in all seriousness.

"Well, that's all for now! Until next time…"

 **"** **Staaaay fresh!"** The two finished with their signature pose, and the screen cut to black again.

Willow's first instinct in the face of such news was to somehow fall into her bed and sleep.

* * *

 ** _11:09 am-_** _January the First: (A much more reasonable time!) Inkopolis Plaza_

 _"_ _Inkopolis's Great Zapfish has… vanished!"_

Willow's first instinct in the face of such news was to get out there and see if anybody was panicking over a possible electricity problem- and, worst case scenario, the end of Turf Wars. The answer, it seemed, was that some people were and the more sensible people were getting them to calm down.

Upon reaching Inkopolis Plaza, she saw to her relief that nothing had changed, save for the lack of Zapfish up on Inkopolis Tower. Perhaps her slightly less practical peers believed the laughable notion that everything would be fine and the Great Zapfish would just… magically reappear, as if it were just _on holiday_ or something- an _actual_ rumour going around.

Mentally shaking her head but relieved at the apparent lack of panic (for now), the young Inkling made her way to Inkopolis Tower for some good old Regular Turf Matches. Because why not, she didn't feel like doing anything extra competitive for the moment, and from this day forth she could do whatever she liked and the parents would never figure it out. A somewhat twisted smile played at her lips as she recalled the second-to-last note she'd left behind (the last note being to Morgan, letting her know that the second-to-last note was a _big fat LIE_ ) in order to _guarantee_ the parents wouldn't feel inclined to screw up her life any longer.

She turned her head, just looking around one more time, and jumped in surprise as she saw _The Squid Sisters_ looking at her through the large window of their news show studio! Callie grinned in a friendly way, waving brightly, then poked Marie (to Willow's top-secret amusement) into passing her own reserved little smile-and-wave-assemble. Willow shyly waved back at them. To think! The _Squid Sisters_ just randomly waved at _her_ , of all their fans milling about outside!

Allowing herself a little airheadedness in honour of the unusual occasion, she hummed her favourite Squid Sister song as she set off to _completely_ _demolish_ everyone else in Turf Wars today.

Any serious Turf War players milling about nearby might have taken a look at Willow's particularly good mood today and hoped to be on her team -for if _Sea Arrow,_ as she was known within the Turf War Community (For reasons of being fresh and not tipping the parents off if she ever became well-known), was in a _good mood_ , then her chances of leading her teammates to victory just got significantly higher.


	3. Chapter 2: Watch who's Watching

**Here's a quick thanks to** ** _write n' wrong_** **for commenting, and also to** ** _TrimusicaDrag00n90_** **for favouriting.**

 _Last Time…_

 ** _8:08 am_** _on the First of January…_

 _Willow Cepha, as few people knew her, was DONE with this place; she had been for the last few years. […] Living with the parents was akin to living with any old stranger. Even_ _Morgan_ _knew her far better than they did, and she was a traveller who tended to show up once every few months on the way to visit her sister. […] Relief filled her as she turned and walked, quite confidently, away from that house. […] Some jerk had left some really unfriendly purple-red ink lying around -the stuff was unlike anything she'd ever seen, it was softly glowing like her eyes and ink just doesn't DO that!_

 _"_ _Inkopolis's Great Zapfish has… vanished!" Callie of the Squid Sisters announced. […] "I wonder if it has anything to do with that UFO crash?" […] The screen behind the Squid Sisters changed on cue to show what was indeed some kind of UFO, which had a large, alien bright red tentacle coming out the top. Strangely enough, the suckers of that tentacle were on the outside, rather than the inside. How odd…_

 ** _11:09 am-_** _January the First: (A much more reasonable time!) Inkopolis Plaza_

 _Her slightly less practical peers believed the laughable notion that everything would be fine and the Great Zapfish would just… magically reappear, as if it were just on_ _holiday_ _or something. […] Mentally shaking her head but relieved at the apparent lack of panic (for now), the young Inkling made her way to Inkopolis Tower for some good old Regular Turf Matches. […] To think! The Squid Sisters just randomly waved at_ _her_ _, of all their fans milling about outside! […] If_ _Sea Arrow_ _, as she was known within the Turf War Community […], was in a good mood, then her chances of leading her teammates to victory just got significantly higher._

* * *

 ** _~Chapter Two: Watch who's Watching~_**

 ** _11:59 am_** _-Hammerhead Bridge, Inkopolis_

All three of her hearts were pumping with excitement as she found herself locked in battle with some fairly fresh interloper from the enemy team, who was attempting to ink the area near her team's re-spawn pad in their last ten seconds of battle. Knowing the rest of her team would soon have his (pretty ineffectual) trail covered, Willow focused on splatting the guy and winning this match on the crest of the wave.

The guy's (currently blue) tentacles were unusually cropped short, and lay flat on his head, rather than the usual boy's style of tying their tentacles up in a fishtail. Willow thought the style was about "raw" on the weird-to-fresh scale of unusual tentastyles, she wouldn't be surprised if it caught on after a while. The rest of his outfit consisted of a pretty standard "T-shirt and Trainers" set. A squid couldn't go wrong with them (but wasn't that guy cold?).

Actually, he was pretty good. The enemy inkling's areospray shots followed her every move, and he dodged in just the right direction every time she dived in and out of her ink, shooting furiously with her well-used splattershot jr in one of many attempts to get the drop on him -too bad for the guy that he didn't see the splat bomb exploding behind him before it was too late. The look on that guy's face was _priceless_ the second he figured out he was about to get blown up, though Willow made a mental note not to waste a second doing the same should she ever end up in the same sticky spot.

"BOOYAH!" She cheered just as the timer hit zero, the whistle blew, and everyone stopped everything in favour of looking up at the various large screens to see who'd just won.

The inkling smirked as she saw from the arial picture of Hammerhead Bridge that her team's orange ink was _EVERYWHERE,_ give or take a few blue patches dotted around in the enemy team's last ditch attempt at a comeback. They didn't even need to bring in Judd, the winners were so obvious. As such, the two teams superjumped back to the lobby in Inkopolis Tower.

Willow always felt that it was best to quit while you were ahead, so she let the temporary bright carrot orange spray leach out her tentacles -sure, she could keep the colour if she _really_ wanted to, but she much preferred her natural bubblegum pink- and was just about to go check out the shops at Booyah Base when that guy from earlier -who's flattened tentacles were now an eye-catching shade of neon green- caught up with her and started talking.

"How do you DO that?!" He asked -more like _demanded_ \- breathlessly, wringing his hands. Even his tentacles started flopping about a little in an agitated manner.

"Do what?" She shot back in a sarcastic tone she hoped was worthy of Marie, and kept right on walking.

The boy kept right up with her. "I mean, _keep being fresh_ for weeks on end?! Haven't you realised people like me are starting to recognise you walking around?"

"Mmm-Hmmm." She replied, taking in the latest adverts taped around the walls of Booyah Base. Several medium-sized schools of squids, along with some Jellings, were moving about in search of the freshest stuff to get. It wasn't really the adverts themselves she was paying attention to, but the minor spots of graffiti the general population of young squids had deemed as appropriate judgement of whatever was being advertised. "Sure you've got the right squid?"

"You're Sea Arrow, aren't you?"

"Yes. Who're you?" Her nonchalant tone of voice didn't deter him in the slightest.

"Ink-Kid in Turf Wars, Jack Inkay everywhere else." He replied, then repeated, "So how do you _DO_ that?!" in much the same tone as before. Willow relaxed, and turned to face him. This was the first time she'd heard of people remembering her _specifically_ as someone fresh, let alone of her Turf War alias being passed around, but she would take it all in her stride as she normally did… and investigate thoroughly later. Besides, she didn't mind handing out tips once in a while. Just so long as Jack told all his friends not to bother her unless they _really had to_ later.

"Listen up, Jack, 'cause I'm only answering your question once." Willow's slightly glowing jade eyes faced Jack's regular, dull greyish-blue pair, just so she could be sure he was listening. "I find, by my own experience, that being fresh is a bit of a balancing act. On one end, you've gotta pay attention to what everyone's up to lately."

A group of girls in near-identical outfits, including several varieties of the same pair of headphones and the same tentastyle that all the girls had right around now (based off Callie's though nobody else as of yet had managed to grow their tentacles quite as long), passed by, discussing which rollers were the best of all of them.

"On the other end, you've gotta stand out," Willow gestured to Jack's tentastyle with an approving eye, "while not looking totally weird or worse, completely bonkers."

Her gaze shifted to a much-hated mannequin at the window of some bizarre outfit store nobody ever went into, which was forever dressed in clashing colours and clashing styles of hat, top, leggings and shoes- the very definition of "completely bonkers".

"But the biggest thing to remember is that freshness is an opinion. You've gotta think you look fresh before anyone else will… unless your natural sense of style is horrific, in which case use someone else's opinion instead."

Jack nodded along, before bursting out with one last declaration- "Being fresh means beating everyone else in Turf Wars too! I'm sure of it! We'll be meeting again on the battlefield, and I'll beat you next time, just you wait!" He struck a dramatic pose, but flopped back to normal the second she raised an eyebrow at him. "So what's your name?"

"Sea Arrow to you." Willow quite casually replied, in such a manner that Jack would clearly understand at once that he would never get the answer, "and tell everyone you know that I am not a social squid and won't appreciate being bothered but will occasionally hand out a tip or two if they _really need it_."

And with that, Jack dashed off somewhere else and left Willow in peace to check out the shops.

* * *

After having looked around all the hat, shoe and top stores from top to bottom, Willow came to the conclusion that there was nothing particularly interesting to her around this time. It was hard for her to find an update for her long-used style, which involved a backwards cap, a zekko hoodie and a pair of large comfortable trainers that went with everything. Then again, it wasn't like she was feeling the need to change up her style at the moment. Maybe this same stuff would seem fresher after a day or two, maybe it wouldn't.

She also listened in on the local talk. There were the mundane debates about fashion and weapons, many conversations over The Great Zapfish and where in the world it had went, and (surprisingly) her alias did pop up in conversation from time to time. She'd been so busy with her great moving out that she hadn't even noticed- well, now she would. It wouldn't do to dissipate out too quickly just as people were starting to pay attention to her.

Ammo Knights, best weapon store around, was her next stop. Much as Willow liked her splattershot jr and other mid-range shooter weapons, she felt it was time to try something new, lest she become too predictable. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten that all the newbies tended to show up around now, and found the store completely packed. Willow could barely hear herself _think_ over the newbies' endless chattering and Sheldon's monologuing about the various weapons.

One particular squid caught her eye, a girl around her age wearing a totally mundane work-apron with an equally mundane black fishfry bandana. Her tentastyle was different from most, as one wavy tentacle hung down one side of her face, and the rest of them had been cut relatively short. And those tentacles were by far the brightest shade of sky-blue Willow had ever seen. She seemed to be attempting to help Sheldon manage the crowd with a large, very genuine, smile on her face.

The oddest thing was that Willow didn't recall seeing her before. Ever. Which was really strange since she kept explaining to the newbies about how she was Sheldon's Weapondry Apprentice. Maybe she'd just started today?

The pink-tentacled Inkling honestly didn't think she'd be able to settle into a career choice that quickly. There were opportunities for young squids everywhere, seeing as most would rather not go for higher education (y'know, studying things like science and advanced tech) after being let out of the standard school system. Willow only vaguely remembered ONE Inkling in her class who'd been like that. She'd left early to study biology extensively in a more sciencey school somewhere around the edge of the country, if Willow was remembering correctly.

The thoughts of future careers (far, FAR in the future, but Willow liked being prepared) wouldn't leave her mind even as she turned away from the crowded store and headed to the nearest cafe, resolving to go back once the crowd cleared up. She knew the next Advanced Class Turf Matches wouldn't start for a couple of hours, so she figured she'd have time.

* * *

 ** _11:09 am -_** _January the First: Squid Sister Studios_

"The Octarians." Grimly stated Marie of The Squid Sisters. Callie nodded, looking out of the large sound-proof, ink-proof, _everything_ -proof window separating their studio from their horde of fans, some of which liked to pause and take pictures or selfies whenever the cousins happened to look their way. "They couldn't have picked a more inconvenient time to strike if they tried!"

Callie turned to face her. "Well, we ARE pretty busy these days." She agreed, somewhat lightly, "But I'm sure nobody will mind if we disappear once in a bit to rescue the Great Zapfish and get back home in time for the news."

Her cousin looked at her despairingly. Really, Callie was too optimistic for their own good. Callie looked back at Marie with bright eyes before losing interest and looking back at the general young population of young Inklings passing by outside. "It's not just the Great Zapfish, Callie. Minor Zapfish have been disappearing all over Inkopolis as well, and THAT'S probably The Octarians as well! Doesn't really help that nobody believes old Gramps when he tries to explain it's them." Marie sighed, leaning back on her chair a little further.

"Oh. I guess we'll need help then. I can think of a few people who could possibly help!"

"You… can?"

Callie nodded again, gesturing to the Plaza full of young Inklings outside. Then she started pointing people out as they passed by. None of them so far really struck Marie as someone who could take the issue seriously, let alone keep it quiet around all their friends… She zoned out a bit as Callie continued to look over the crowd and pointing out all the freshest experts at Turf Wars. _(Experts at a recreational sport they may be, but ready for the real world they are not.)_ Marie thought to herself.

"Oh! Look, look, look!" Said Callie suddenly, poking Marie over and over to get her attention. Marie reluctantly looked over at the latest candidate… and sat up, interested. At first glance the Inkling seemed pretty typical, but there was something about the way she was glancing around at everybody with a confident demeanour that caught The Squid Sister's relaxed eye. "Sea Arrow," Callie was saying, "as she's known in the Turf War scene. From what people have been saying recently, she just _appeared_ one day and started _destroying_ the competition."

"Seriously?" Asked Marie in her very best voice of sarcasm, "Usually people would have spotted someone like that _long_ before they start 'destroying the competition'. The popular shopkeepers at Booyah Base in particular have a really good eye for freshness. Then again, _I_ wouldn't have thought much of her at first glance."

" _You_ don't think much of _anybody_ at first glance." Callie shot back teasingly. There was no arguing with fact.

Then Sea-Arrow turned to look at them. Almost instantly, Marie was caught (just for a quarter of a second) on her jade-coloured eyes and, more importantly, the downright _seriousness_ written all over her face. She got the the feeling that this was a squid on a mission. Callie gave her an excited smile and waved animatedly, poking Marie again to get her to do the same… albeit in a more _reserved_ manner. The girl's expression softened slightly and her lips twitched into the ghost of a smile as she shyly waved back at them then walked on with great dignity.

"Looks like we just made her day." Commented Marie with the smile still on her face.

Callie took one look at Marie's face and added, "Looks like we just found our Agent Three."


	4. Chapter 3: The New Squidbeak Splatoon

_Last Time…_

 ** _11:59 am_** _-Hammerhead Bridge, Inkopolis_

 _The look on that guy's face was_ _priceless_ _the second he figured out he was about to get blown up. […] "BOOYAH!" She cheered. […] Willow's team's orange ink was EVERYWHERE, […] they didn't even need to bring in Judd, the winners were so obvious._

 _"_ _You're Sea Arrow, aren't you?" […] "Yes. Who're you?" Her nonchalant tone of voice didn't deter him in the slightest. […] "Ink-Kid in Turf Wars, Jack Inkay everywhere else." He replied, […] "So what's your name?" […] "Sea Arrow to you." Willow quite casually replied._

 _One particular squid at Ammo Knights caught her eye, a girl around her age [whose] tentacles were by far the brightest shade of sky-blue Willow had ever seen. She seemed to be attempting to help Sheldon manage the crowd with a large, very genuine, smile on her face. […] The oddest thing was that Willow didn't recall seeing her before. Ever._

 ** _11:09 am -_** _January the First: Squid Sister Studios_

 _"_ _It's not just the Great Zapfish, Callie. Minor Zapfish have been disappearing all over Inkopolis as well, and THAT'S probably The Octarians as well! Doesn't really help that nobody believes old Gramps when he tries to explain it's them." […] "Oh. I guess we'll need help then." […] "Sea Arrow," Callie was saying, "as she's known in the Turf War scene. From what people have been saying recently, she just_ _appeared_ _one day and started_ _destroying_ _the competition."_

 _"_ _Looks like we just made her day." Commented Marie with the smile still on her face._

 _Callie took one look at Marie's face and added, "Looks like we just found our Agent Three."_

* * *

 ** _~Chapter Three: The New Squidbeak Splatoon~_**

 ** _10:42 am_** _\- January the Second: Blackbelly Skatepark_

The pressure from the bubblegum pink ink around her pounded in her ears as she dashed as fast as she could in order to apprehend the intruder from the enemy team, who was not-so-discreetly approaching the splat zone with a dangerous-looking slosher in their hands. The pink Inkling leapt from her team's ink, rapidly swinging her new inkbrush at the target- who was promptly splatted. Willow swerved back to the splat zone at once to continue the defence and assure her team's victory.

 ** _11:27 am_** _\- January the Third: Moray Towers_

She almost let out a shriek of righteous indignation when that flat-tentacled Inkling got her good with a charger right as she had her hands on the rainmaker. The stage was pretty linear with lots of high ground so she felt annoyed with herself as well; Willow felt she really ought to have seen it coming. She resisted the urge to scowl even as the re-spawn pad pulled her to safety. The mistake may well have cost her team the match!

 ** _12:37 pm_** _\- January the Fifth: A popular cafe_

Willow Cepha, as nobody thus far (barring Morgan, whom she hadn't seen since her "final escape" -and the parents hardly counted at all) knew her, attempted to relax a little with a warm drink and a fresh new outfit, consisting of a relatively warm coat, a pair of boots, and sound-resistant headphones that doubled as earmuffs. The headphones especially made Sheldon and his… -apprentice..?- more bearable.

Then she spotted that familiar neon-green tentacled guy, the one with the raw new tentastyle, and (recalling sourly her latest defeat at the hands of this guy!) walked right up to him -ignoring whoever he was hanging out with- and could not help but point out- "Hey! Ink-Kid!" With a certain measured respect (as is usual if one managed to splat you several times), "I'm SO splatting you back next time we meet in _any_ Turf War whatsoever, so show up on a match today!" Before turning around and speed-walking 'round the corner.

She proudly sipped her hot chocolate with extra marshmallows as she could not help overhearing Ink-Kid's -Jack's- friends start demanding to know just _how_ he'd caught the attention of Sea Arrow, the one squid in all of Inkopolis known, in part, for not being sociable.

 ** _2:43 pm_** _\- January the Seventh: Arowana Mall_

There was a sudden rush of air as the (currently green) squid _just_ managed to avoid being blown up by somebody's stray suction bomb. What had started as a fairly usual B+ Tower Control Ranked Match had quickly and suddenly turned into a total Splat Match (a phrase referencing a particularly barbaric old Turf War Mode that was shut down 8,888 years ago thanks to Judd's insistance) the second Willow caught sight of Ink-Kid on the opposite team- and, as it happened, the other three members each had a specific rival on the opposite team as well. So the match was basically total chaos.

Really, it would have been even more perfect if their colours were swapped. It was hard to take Ink-Kid seriously when his tentacles were currently Willow's favourite shade of bubblegum pink…

 ** _6:28 pm_** _\- January the Eighth: Saltspray Rig_

The thrill of battle. The rush of inking. The carelessness of it all, knowing that it didn't really matter if you lost because there was nothing at stake, except maybe a little pride. No Ranked Match or Single-Player League Competition could possibly compare to a good ol' Advanced Class Turf Match. Willow was inking away with her much-loved splattershot jr, and even better, the enemy team were trying their best to stay away from her because her (deep purple) tentacles were shining with energy as a warning to all that her special was ready. And everybody knew about the bubbler- or "invincibubble", as many liked to call it.

Their attempts at running away made it laughably easy to splat them all. Willow was almost giddy with the excitement and extra energy she held at the moment, she couldn't stop moving for a second, not even to check the maps shown on humongous screens set high up on the walls and see if her team was winning.

 ** _9:36 pm_** _(Early evening) - January the Eighth: Inkopolis Plaza_

 _(Ink-Kid: 55. Sea Arrow: 63.)_ Thought Willow in satisfaction. Usually the numbers were closer to equal, but she'd had a particularly lucky day today- the system had seen fit to bless her with sensible teammates while Jack had been stuck with the local dunderheads. Or maybe genuinely good players having a bad day. They had to get from "Newbie Class" to "Casual Class" to "Advanced Class" _somehow_ , after all.

She took a deep, relaxed breath, sat down and took off the headphones, leaning against the wall with her latest weapon -an Aerospray RG, which was particularly good at covering turf- lying casually by her side, though she had a hand placed upon it. Just in case.

She looked up at the various stars in the sky -no doubt the brightest, for the paler ones were drowned out by all the electrical light produced by the city. Thinking of electricity, nothing particularly bad had happened -YET- but there was still no news about the Great Zapfish. Well, that made sense. The Politicians didn't like the idea of people panicking, and Inkopolis had long since built up a great reserve of energy- just in case. Maybe the squids of the past had seen this coming. The Great Zapfish _was_ a living being, after all. But Willow's instincts told her something was very, very, wrong, and she wouldn't be here right now if she'd ever disregarded her instincts.

"Psst! Hey!" Whispered an old-sounding voice from her right. "Yipes!" The owner of the voice squawked (as the voice was too low in pitch for the sound to qualify as a "squeak") as Willow instantly pointed her Aerospray RG directly at his face. "Hold on, youngin'! I need your help getting the Great Zapfish back!" She raised an eyebrow at him, leaning to the side to see a shaky old squid poking out of… some kind of pipeway. She'd assumed it was one of Inkopolis's many drains (While _light_ rain wasn't a problem, _heavy_ rain and floods could be _VERY FATAL_ , emphasis on _FATAL_ ), but now it looked more like some kind of secret entrance.

All in all, very sketchy. She wasn't about to just follow the old guy down there on a whim. "What are you talking about?" She asked in a voice that meant business, jade eyes flashing (literally) in the shadowy corner near Inkopolis Tower.

"Not here- anybody could be listening!" The dried-out old squid insisted. Willow didn't move. "Okay, fine, I'm Cap'n Cuttlefish and I've been keepin' an eye on the Octarians ever since they lost The Great Turf War some time back. But then they managed to steal the Great Zapfish from right under my nose!"

Oh. Right, she'd heard of this guy. Local opinion was that he'd gone a bit crazy after The Great Turf War a whole _century_ ago and was now spouting total nonsense about Octarians seeking revenge for the Great Turf War, even though everybody knew _THEY_ had started it.

Local opinion was usually 99% dunderhead on matters of great importance, so it wouldn't hurt to investigate the matter. Wasn't like she couldn't defend herself, or even had that much to lose -save her vague ambitions about going professional and becoming Super Fresh, like the Squid Sisters out of the music biz. She lowered the Aerospray.

"Fine. I'll follow you down there and hear you out. Don't take it as an agreement." Cuttlefish dropped down the pipe at once, and Willow switched to squid form and followed him down.

* * *

"Anyway, I'm Cap'n Cuttlefish of the legendary Squidbeak Splatoon! That look in your eye…" She was looking at him with a good mix of scepticism and annoyance, but that wasn't important. Though it _did_ show that his granddaughters had found a squid who knew what's what.

No, the important bit was the fact that they softly glowed- that had long been a sign of hidden potential, something that had to be recognised before it would ever manifest itself. There were prodigies, and then there was hidden potential. In fact…

"It's the look I've been looking for!" Cap'n Craig Cuttlefish announced, though that just resulted in more scepticism. Now she'd stopped looking at his outfit and started looking at his evidence board, which linked everything Craig had found out, along with the exact timings of the Great Zapfish's -and other Zapfishs'- disappearances. "The Great Zapfish that powers Inkopolis has been squidnapped! Nobody believes me but it's the work of the Octarians! I just know it!"

"Those guys that lost the Great Turf War a century ago?" Sea Arrow asked, sounding vaguely interested.

Cap'n Craig chose to take this as a good sign and kept on going. "Yes! They want revenge for that war! I've been keepin' an eye on them this whole time, of course…"

"Of course." Was that sarcasm?

"But they stole the Great Zapfish right out from under my nose! Please! You've gotta help me rescue the Great Zapfish!"

The young squid looked like she had a LOT more to say, but didn't know where to begin. She narrowed her eyes at him and her hands always gripped her weapon in that way that meant she could fire it at any moment. "First off, why ME of all squids?"

"We needed someone who could take the job seriously and actually be able to DO the job. My granddaughters thought you were just the squid to ask!"

"You SURE you got the right squid?"

"You're Sea Arrow, right? Odd name…"

"Yes, and it's my Turf War Alias. Not my real name. Don't bother asking for it." She relaxed slightly, but only very slightly. "Second, _WHAT_ exactly am I getting into?"

This called for a much larger explanation, but at this point the old Cap'n was certain she could keep a secret. Besides, he was really hoping this kid would join the New Squidbeak Splatoon…

"Well, last time the Octarians caused trouble my granddaughters and I formed the New Squidbeak Splatoon to stop them! But now they're… er… really, _really_ busy. No time for discreetly splatting Octarians! So you'll be Agent Three! If you want." The old squid leaned on his old bamboozler and took a breath while Sea Arrow considered this information, "The New Squidbeak Splatoon is a really big secret, so don't tell anyone!"

"Hmm. Sounds like some opportunity…" the younger squid mused, fiddling with her weapon- though her eyes never left the old Cap'n. "I'll give it a go, and if this Octarian threat is legit I'll help y'all stop 'em. But if it isn't, don't go bugging me about it EVER AGAIN." There was a stern finality in her voice that gave him the feeling that she _meant_ that. It had been such a long time since he'd last met a squid like her…

"Well then! Starting today, you are Agent Three of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! And I've got some special Anti-Octarian equipment for you too, comes with the job…"

* * *

 ** _11:28 pm_** _\- January the Eighth: Willow's Flat_

Well. That had been interesting. The young squid examined the new gear and weapon she'd been given by Cap'n Cuttlefish. She was hardly an expert, but even she could tell that this was high-quality stuff, despite apparently being "a hand-me-down from Agents One and Two". Extra layers, enemy ink repellant… she'd found that the Anti-Octarian Shot was a _really powerful_ weapon. Made sense, since it was supposed to be for actual combat, rather than Turf Wars. And the headphones, Willow thought, were really fresh. It was a shame she couldn't just wear them everywhere, for obvious reasons.

After giving her the stuff, Cuttlefish had told her more about the Octarians- how they fought, where their bases were, what she was likely to be up against… He also explained that he wasn't going to sit around doing nothing- he had several maps of the Octarian bases and would be giving her instructions through the headphones. Neat.

Not so neat was the warnings about how she could possibly be splatted PERMANENTLY down there due to the distinct lack of Inkling-friendly re-spawn pads. However, she'd been assured that the Octarian forces did have their own re-spawn pads- but of course they did! Willow simply could not imagine a cephalopod society without them! With that thought, she set her alarm for **9:00 am** and got herself ready for bed. Her instincts were warning her that she'd need a LOT of good rest for the job.


	5. 4: The Commander and the Zapfish Squad

_Last Time…_

 ** _9:36 pm_** _(Early evening) - January the Eighth: Inkopolis Plaza…_

 _(Ink-Kid: 55. Sea Arrow: 63.)_ _Thought Willow in satisfaction._

 _Nothing particularly bad had happened -YET- but there was still no news about the Great Zapfish, […] but Willow's instincts told her something was very, very, wrong, and she wouldn't be here right now if she'd_ _ever_ _disregarded her instincts._

 _"_ _Psst! Hey!" Whispered an old-sounding voice from her right. "Yipes!" The owner of the voice squawked (as the voice was too low in pitch for the sound to qualify as a "squeak") as Willow instantly pointed her Aerospray RG directly at his face. […] "I'm Cap'n Cuttlefish of the legendary Squidbeak Splatoon! […] The Great Zapfish that powers Inkopolis has been squidnapped! Nobody believes me but it's the work of the Octarians! I just know it!"_

 _"_ _Hmm. Sounds like some opportunity…" the younger squid mused, fiddling with her weapon- though her eyes never left Cuttlefish. "I'll give it a go, and if this Octarian threat is legit I'll help y'all stop 'em. But if it isn't, don't go bugging me about it EVER AGAIN." There was a stern finality in her voice that gave him the feeling that she meant that. It had been such a long time since Cap'n Cuttlefish had last met a squid like her…_

 _"_ _Well then! Starting today, you are Agent Three of the New Squidbeak Splatoon!"_

* * *

 ** _~Chapter Four: The Commander and the Zapfish Squad~_**

 ** _Unknown Time_** **** _\- January the Ninth:_ _Floor Unknown of Unknown_

Commander Cathrine Catfish looked despairingly at her small group of all-too-eager candidates for her squad. All the volunteers from the Octoling Corps -to be part of a squad in charge of invading the _Inkling city_ of all places- had been split into groups and sent randomly to each Elite Octoling Commander.

Unfortunately, she was finding it difficult to pick out who might be the most qualified for the job. She had her list of criteria, of course-

 _1: Capable of being VERY QUIET_ (Inklings tended to stay up late and Jellings woke up early, so the city forever had somebody conscious around).

 _2: Good at sneaking around without leaving ink everywhere._

 _3: Follows orders, but has at_ _least_ _a little initiative._

 _4: Is NOT some new rookie_ (She'd sent THEM all out already).

And _5: Can_ _at least_ _accept some basic truths about Inklings, such as "Most Inklings do NOT know what an Octoling looks like" and "Most younger Inklings barely remember that The Great Turf War was an actual thing"._

Every Octoling in the room qualified for all of them except point five. The trouble was trying to work out who DID qualify, and who DIDN'T, without somebody telling somebody else what she'd been saying and causing an uproar. It had been difficult enough to get the "extreme" edge off the general belief about Inklings, as the DJ seemed to want _everyone_ to _believe_ all that nonsense.

As per an earlier order, nobody was wearing their octoleet goggles, so Cathrine could translate all of their expressions as they "took a break and had a chat while she decided over who qualified best". It was the best plan she could come up with to spot who was an extremist and who just didn't really have much else to believe about the matter. As a show of good faith, Cathrine wasn't wearing hers, either. Not that she would unless she was in a battle situation or a room so dark she couldn't see without them even after five minutes.

Cathrine's eyes were a bright shade of golden-yellow that (though they did NOT glow) tended to reflect the firelight and catch -unwanted, in this situation- attention. She had to glance over the candidates quickly before they caught on to the fact that she was looking, but the plan was working.

To her left were a trio of hazel-eyed teenage girls who were discussing the dangers of Inklings- one's Expressions translated to something like: " _They are dangerous. I don't like them."_ by the way she shrunk back at the topic while making her points and _"I'm only coming if you both are too."_ as evidenced by the way her arms gestured to the other two and as her eyes flicked between them even as she spoke. The other two, unfortunately, had Expressions that said: _"_ _Everyone_ _knows they're traitors." (this context only)_ in a smug, certain sort of way and _"Don't be a worrywart, we'll handle it together."_ by the way their eyes were softened and focused on the previous person.

To her right, another three teenage girls -one with grey eyes, one with black eyes, and one whose eyes she couldn't see as the girl's back was to her- seemed to be deep in a debate over how best to improve their weapons without A) breaking them and B) people noticing. Grey Eyes and Black Eyes had agreed on something and were trying to convince The Third with confident, _"We are right!"_ gestures. The Third became annoyed and huffed, spinning around and locking her (evidently soft red-pink) eyes to the floor in a clear attempt to hide, _"You have a point."_ because she was too stubborn to admit it (evidence: her arms were folded and she was frowning slightly).

At the back were four more slightly older -you guessed it- teenage girls, who were all just bored and wondering when Commander Catfish would make a decision. Interestingly, they all seemed convinced that they were about to be picked as the others were clearly not experienced enough to face the surface yet. Catherine thought _one_ of those four _might_ pass her criteria, which was promptly changed to a "definitely did" pass her criteria when she Expressed a desire to find out for herself what Inklings were _really_ like (in Express Language, which meant she spoke Octese without using words).

Then there was the boy in the middle. His tentacles had been cropped as short as possible -into a mohawk style- and his eyes- his expression- he looked at Cathrine with infinite patience. Didn't even fidget. Not even a little. His eyes were the very plainest brown she'd ever seen and his entire expression was blanker than the plain stone floor. And that, to Cathrine; to _any_ Octoling who may have seen him without the octoleet goggles, was _deeply,_ _deeply_ _unsettling-_ because half of the octopi language, Octese, was made up of expressions that took a lifetime to learn how to translate into words. And this boy didn't have _any_.

Therefore he was automatically in the squad- as an Elite Octoling, she HAD to keep an eye on someone like that. Besides, he fit the criteria. At least as far as she could tell. Kind of strange that a boy was in the Octoling Corps, though. Usually Octoling boys preferred the Emergency Repair Corps. Then again, some girls went to the Emergency Repair Corps too. Why _not_ a boy in the Octoling Corps?

* * *

 _Mission: Be recruited to Cathrine Catfish's Squad and report on anything suspicious._

Check one- He was recruited. He had successfully passed all of her prior tests on: The capability to be quiet. The ability to adequately sneak around without leaving ink everywhere. To follow all reasonable orders but show some initiative _(note: the second was difficult)_. To, apparently, NOT be a new recruit _(note: this was laughably easy)_.

Observations so far: Catfish appeared interested in discussion about Inklings. The other three chosen members of her squad were confirmed to have mild or changeable opinions about Inklings _(note: this could be important)_.

"Finally…" Commander Catfish muttered upon making her choice and subsequently sending all others out of the room. "Right. As you probably know, I am Commander Cathrine Catfish. Could you all introduce yourselves?"

Naturally, they could. When it came down to him, he gave them the once-name as he'd been instructed to in situations requiring a name. He did not observe any suspicion over the once-name's lack of a last name. This was good, as he would not have to recount- _(note: Catfish appears to be paying me extra attention. There is something about me they all find "off". This must be reported as my mission may be comprised.)_

"First things first… I am from the surface," Commander Catfish admitted outright, "but I haven't been up there in a long, long time and have never been to Inkopolis -the Inkling city."

Observation: The other three appeared to be impressed by this admission. As Catfish was from the surface, this gave whatever she may claim about it more creditability. However, this was already a known fact.

"However," the Elite Commander continued, "I actually _met_ several Inklings before coming down here, and I still remain connected to their internet via my old mobile phone, so I have information on them that I would like to share with- yes, Oscar?"

"Is DJ Octavio aware that you possess a device which may tell you about the activities of the Inklings?" He outright asked, deeming the question necessary.

"Yes." She answered, "He had it for a while, and has only recently given it back so that we can steal more of their Zapfish. Actually, I suspect that he managed to use it to gain his own connection somehow. I imagine that will be… useful." _(Note: I must confirm this with my Leader.)_ "Now, as I was saying, I've got information to share with you. These are actual facts which will explain some of my orders, which may seem irrational at first glance. If you want proof I am more than happy to show it to you!" To finish her point, Commander Catfish drew out a small -and rather primitive- device which appeared to be the Inkling version of an octophone from about thirty years ago. "Right. Now repeat after me:

"'Inklings who are not a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon have _NO IDEA WHATSOEVER_ as to what Octolings actually look like.'"

"Inklings who are not a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon have _NO IDEA WHATSOEVER_ as to what Octolings actually look like."

"'Most younger Inklings barely remember that the Great Turf War was an actual thing.'"

Observation: The other three were -quite rightly- surprised by this statement. Correction: The other three were -quite rightly- terribly shocked and incredibly surprised by this blatant disagreement with DJ Octavio's mindset and what _everybody_ had learned back at the Academy. He too, found himself feeling a little shocked despite having been warned about her beforehand. Catfish's response was to pass around her primitive device -a _squidphone_ , as she called it- so everyone could search the squid youth's social media and see the proof.

Upon looking over the shoulder of his… "new squadmate" he found that Catfish was absolutely right. The strange slang (untranslated from Inklish, even though most of it could be and was) and stranger selfies were all -clearly- impossible to have faked, and the evidence was there no matter how much he and the other three tried to find evidence that disproved what Cathrine was saying, they could not. There were many, many, internet chats over -primarily- what made the Great Turf War different from Turf Wars, which were… the local _sport_ , from what he could tell.

"Okay, give it back now please. Thanks. Right, from the top. Repeat after me- 'Inklings -who are not a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon- have _NO IDEA WHATSOEVER_ as to what Octolings actually look like…'"

All four members of Cathrine's squad soon learned that:

-"Inklings who are not a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon have _NO IDEA WHATSOEVER_ as to what Octolings actually look like."

-"Most younger Inklings barely remember that the Great Turf War was an actual thing."

-"When an Inkling refers to 'Turf Wars' -in Inklish, that's _'Turf Wars'_ (He had been taught to understand, if not speak, Inklish. The phrase, to those who couldn't understand the language, was _'Jav Zangs'_ )- or some variant, they are referring to a highly popular sport."

-"Inklings are very fashionable and call this, along with battle ability and various other things, 'fresh'. In Inklish, that's _'fresh'_."

And -"Inklings, therefore, will NOT attack an Octoling on sight unless they are a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and will NOT feel threatened if an Octoling is seen holding a weapon in a non-threatening way."

Observation: That last one took a LOT of convincing before any of the Zapfish-Collection Squad would believe it. But given the overwhelming evidence of the other statements being facts, even he had to admit it was a perfectly logical conclusion _(Note: The first fact alone should probably have made me think twice before assuming I would be attacked on sight by an Inkling who is not a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon)._

After this, their Commander warned them all about exactly how many of the Inklings were experts in "Turf Wars" (nearly all of them) and exactly why Jellings -and other species living in the city- were both less dangerous and were NOT to be attacked under ANY circumstances. This, apparently, was why they would be going extremely early the next morning to get the Zapfish. After that she explained general things he already knew about local hazards up on the surface, such as rain and the fact that the Zapfish produced natural barriers and beacons that could, if they weren't careful, alert anyone nearby that they were being stolen.

And then Commander Catfish dismissed them with orders to go straight to sleep and come to Exit B7 at **2:00 am** sharp the next morning.

After the meeting, out of anyone's sight or hearing, Two-Sixteen used a secret radio input via his goggles to report the whole event to his Leader.


	6. 5: Agent Three vs the Octotroopers

_Last Chapter…_

 ** _Unknown Time_** _\- January the Ninth:_ _Floor Unknown of Unknown_

 _Commander Cathrine Catfish looked despairingly at her small group of all-too-eager candidates for her squad. […] To her left were a trio of hazel-eyed teenage girls who were discussing the dangers of Inklings. […] To her right [were] another three teenage girls -one with grey eyes, one with black eyes, and one whose eyes she couldn't see as the girl's back was to her. […] At the back were four more slightly older -you guessed it- teenage girls, who were all just bored and wondering when Commander Catfish would make a decision…_

 _Then there was the boy in the middle. His tentacles had been cropped as short as possible -into a mohawk style- and […] his entire expression was blanker than the plain stone floor. And that, […] was deeply,_ _deeply_ _unsettling- because half of the octopi language, Octese, was made up of expressions that took a lifetime to learn how to translate into words. And this boy didn't have any. […] Therefore he was automatically in the squad- as an Elite Octoling, she HAD to keep an eye on someone like that._

 _Mission: Be recruited to Cathrine Catfish's Squad and report on anything suspicious._

 _Observations so far: Catfish appeared interested in discussion about Inklings. The other three chosen members of her squad were confirmed to have mild or changeable opinions about Inklings (note: this could be important). […] "Is DJ Octavio aware that you possess a device which may tell you about the activities of the Inklings?" He outright asked the Commander, deeming the question necessary. […] After the meeting, out of anyone's sight or hearing, Two-Sixteen used a secret radio input via his goggles to report the whole event to his Leader._

* * *

 ** _~Chapter Five: Agent Three vs the Octotroopers~_**

BEEP! … BEEP! … BEE-click.

"Rise 'n shine, Infernal Alarm System." The pink-tentacled inkling smirked at her Squidphone Plus. "One point to me."

With that, Willow swiftly changed to her Agent gear, slid a particularly baggy hoodie over the top, swung her ink tank over her shoulder and clicked the Anti-Octarian Shot into the weapon holder normally reserved for her splattershot jr, resolving to come up with a better (and shorter) name for the hi-powered weapon. Then she left.

 ** _9:35 am_** _-January the Ninth: Octo Valley_

 _(This supposedly Octarian-infested place really isn't so bad)_ , Willow thought with a cool glance. The various small plants were waving gently in the wind, which Willow's eyes unknowingly followed all around the large open area. There were huge, orange-yellow or just plain dirt-coloured cliffs surrounding the whole area, with the only connection to Inkopolis seemingly being that one grateway (as she would refer to it from now on) near Cuttlefish's little house, where she'd left her hoodie to pick up later.

In fact, she didn't see anything even remotely high-tech or octopus-like anywhere, save for the apparently ancient decorative carvings of octopus tentacles, which appeared to be part of the cliff even now that the sun was up and the place was adequately lit up. So she said so. Cuttlefish agreed with her dry statement, and then explained that the Octarian's entrances were invisible and had to be inked to be found.

"Well," said Willow, hoisting her ink tank properly onto her back and grabbing her weapon, "I can't help but feel bad about inking a place like this… even though the ink'll be gone in about thirteen minutes anyway."

"Oh! Wait!" The century-old squid interrupted upon seeing the bubblegum pink compound ink in Willow's ink tank, "Hold on- that artificial ink stuff ya got there won't stand for a second against Octo tech, not for a second!"

The new agent's usually relaxed, half lidded eyes widened slightly. "Are you saying you've actually got some pure Inkling Ink?!" She asked incredulously, for the stuff was legendarily notorious for being extremely difficult to get- at least if you didn't already have some.

"Yep." Capn' Cuttlefish replied, standing up a little straighter over his cane. Willow winced within the her own mind at the old squid's patchy brown… "top"… which was the most notorious crime against fashion Willow had ever seen, and it looked even worse in today's bright sunlight. "I managed to save some of it from the Great Turf War, and I've kept the supply up ever since."

This wasn't difficult as ink tended to replicate itself at all times- albeit so slowly that it eventually and conveniently disappeared once no Inklings were around to spray more of it. Willow vaguely remembered learning something along the lines of ink tanks speeding up the process within itself at school, back when she'd actually cared about learning trivia like that.

Cuttlefish popped in the small house (maybe it would be better described as a shed, but Willow figured that might be rude) then popped back out of it with an ink tank filled with blue-green ink that glowed bright enough for Willow to see that it was glowing even in daylight. She could see the many different shades of that ink, if she was inclined to stare for long enough. Actually, it kind of reminded her of that unpleasant purple-red ink from her old alley shortcut…

"You should use this against the Octarians." Cuttlefish was saying, "I'll keep your ink tank safe. For you. Unlike that new artificial stuff," _(Yikes, this guy really IS old…)_ thought Willow, "anybody who's an Inkling can battle with it without needing to synchronise. Besides, Octolings can synchronise to them artificial inks too, so if you ever met any of _them_ without this Inkling Ink you'd be in a tight pickle jar indeed! They'd hardly play fair and to the rules!"

The young squid shrugged and switched the ink tanks, noting that this one had a weapon holder at the bottom that matched the Anti-Octarian Shot. Perhaps the weapon itself was supposed to be specifically used with this ink. Well, the idea made sense, sort of.

Once that was sorted, the invisible Octarian entrances were no longer invisible and the entire area was covered in ink within seconds. Willow allowed herself a small laugh as she spotted the look on Cuttlefish's wrinkly, dried-out face at the sight while in squid form, lazily floating about within the benevolent ink as her ink tank quickly replicated some more of it. He even said something that sounded suspiciously like "Kids these days…"

"What?" Asked Willow, perhaps a _little_ smugly, "Turf Wars -the game, I mean- make people pretty efficient at getting ink everywhere." Cuttlefish shook his head in disbelief. "So," continued Willow, "Which one am I checking out first?"

* * *

 _Current Task: Guard the Zapfish; patrol sector B. Note: Sound alarm if an Inkling is spotted._

Observations so far: None.

The Octarian Octotrooper, of the lowest rank ever invented, moved to the left corner of sector B. The fan at the bottom of her machine whirred slightly as it moved at a gentle push of a lever with her particularly long tentacle.

Observations: None.

#377 moved to the right corner of sector B. Halfway there, she heard a splashing noise. She looked round at once.

Observations: Glowing green ink previously not spotted. No Inklings. Procedure in the event of glowing green ink: Not specified.

She continued to the right corner of sector B. "INKLING ALERT!" #376's voice screeched over the speaker attached to her standard trooper machine, "Inkling spotted at Sector D! Inkling has the Zap-" His voice was cut of by a sudden gurgling sound and a loud "SPLOP!"

INKLING ALERT: Go to Inkling and attack on sight!

The Octrotrooper got the machine moving at full speed and rushed to Sector D _(Fact: Sector D is past Sector B. Fact: Inkling is at Sector D. Fact: I did not spot any Inkling during patrol. Therefore: I screwed up.)_

 _Current Task: Splat Inkling and retrieve Zapfish!_

Sector D was a much more wide open space and previously required two Octotroopers to patrol. Just behind it was an empty pedestal which would have held the Zapfish…

Observations: No Octotroopers. No Inkling. Area is filled with glowing green ink, including pedestal wall. Sounds: Odd whooshing noise.

She looked up and saw, to her shock, a pink squid marked by a bright beacon of yellow light _(The Zapfish!)_ leaping far over her head. She fiddled with a few different leavers and fired immediately while chasing after the Inkling as fast as the machine would go. "Inkling escaping through Sector B with the Zapfish!" She reported through the microphone on her machine, "Cut the Inkling off at the nearest Surface Exit!"

The Inkling switched forms in midair, landed on her feet and ran forwards out of the 70% accuracy range of #377's shots with incredible and almost impossible speeds that rivalled the speeds of an Elite Octoling. #377 diligently kept chasing and shooting at the thieving intruder as her Task dictated. The Inkling dodged each shot within the blink of an eye without even needing to see them coming first.

By the time the remaining members of the Octotrooper guard got to the exit, they were just in time to see the Squid-Form Inkling leap out of the exit and into the terribly harsh sunlight with all the grace of an Elite Octoling, still in possession of their Zapfish.

 _Current Task: FAILED X1: Did not spot Inkling Intruder. FAILED X2: Did not retrieve Zapfish nor splat the Inkling. FAILED X3: Did not protect #376, #365, or #370 from being splatted by Inkling Intruder. (Note: I feel awful.)_

* * *

"That was surprisingly simple," Drawled Willow, examining the wriggling Zapfish in her hand with mild curiosity, "Therefore they've probably got a LOT of Zapfish down there somewhere, perhaps guarded better."

"But… When…" Cuttlefish asked, sounding as old as he looked (and actually was), leaning heavily on his old bamboozler.

"Who knows. Either way, I'll be searching that underground complex from top to bottom for those Zapfish." Willow all but stated as a solid fact. "So, where does this little guy go?"

Cuttlefish showed her the Zapfish tank in his house, which he explained was where he stored the Zapfish until Agents One and Two could pull a few strings and get them delivered back to their proper places. The little Zapfish she had retrieved seemed quite happy with this prospect, judging by the way it swam around, buzzing with electricity and smiling.

Soon enough, Willow was diving into the next grateway to the Octarian Bases.

* * *

 ** _11:36 am_** _\- Octarian Base #13_

The bases had all been about the same so far. Dark and dingy with only the Zapfish, the Inkling Ink, and a bunch of torches attached rather haphazardly to the wall for light. The Zapfish had only ever been guarded by those Octotrooper things so far. Actually, Willow was just beginning to grasp just how large this place was altogether- and just how many Zapfish the Octarians had taken.

Which was actually less than she'd thought at first, because there were more decoy Zapfish plushies than actual Zapfish. It was no wonder they weren't well guarded, this whole thing was, for the most part, just wasting her time!

"Cuttlefish," She spoke through the agent headphones, "if this is another decoy we're going to have to find a better way of locating the REAL Zapfish before I go off on another big search down here."

"We -Agents One and Two and I- have been working on it. I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually." The old squid didn't sound very confident. "Now take a right, then a left, and you should be able to see where the Zapfish is."

She followed the directions, glancing round at the -frankly quite boring- lack of decoration. Many of the walls looked old and cracked, or just plain patched. Even the torches looked more like slapped-on afterthoughts than actual lighting. Her own eyes shed a little jade light, but not much, and she found it difficult to see without inking everything in sight, which, well, she did. The Octarians didn't seem to mind, from what she'd seen so far. Though that wasn't much.

There was no battling. There was nothing to fight. Cuttlefish had found an enemy-free route for her, it seemed. That didn't stop her proceeding with caution down towards the Zapfish- or more precisely, toward the light produced by a barrier which _may_ be the natural defence of a Zapfish or _may_ be some Octarian imitation belonging to yet another cute lil' plushie. It soon proved to be the latter. Willow didn't bother taking it. "Just another decoy." She reported back to Cuttlefish, "I'm coming back up."

* * *

 _Current Task: Don'tbeheredon'tbeherejsfhjfehfjdhf- bzzt._

Obser- Observations: That glowing green ink w-w-w-w-was everywhere. The Inkling had be-been here for sure. But the Z-Z-Z-Zapfish had been left alone. Was the Inkling still he-e-e-e-ere? #377 didn't kn-n-n-n-now, or want to. She made a task for herself, to give her some p-p-p-p-peace of mind knowing the Superior would a-a-a-a-appreciate it for sure.

 _Current Task: Warn all Octotroopers about glowing green ink = Inkling presence. Encourage this knowledge being passed to new Troopers._

She moved her machine (and therefore herself) at once to all the Troopers she knew. _(Note: I must NOT fail)_.


	7. chapter 6: Sea Arrow's Phenomenon

_Last Time…_

 ** _9:35 am_** _-January the Ninth: Octo Valley_

 _"_ _Are you saying you've actually got some pure Inkling Ink?!" Willow asked incredulously. "So, which [Octarian Base] am I checking out first?"_

 _Current Task: Guard the Zapfish; patrol sector B. Note: Sound alarm if an Inkling is spotted._

 _#377 moved to the right corner of sector B. […] Observations: Glowing green ink previously not spotted. No Inklings. […] "INKLING ALERT!" #376's voice screeched over the speaker attached to her standard trooper machine, "Inkling spotted at Sector D! Inkling has the Zap-" His voice was cut of by […] a loud "SPLOP!" […]_ _Current Task: Splat Inkling and retrieve Zapfish!_ _[…] By the time the remaining members of the Octotrooper guard got to the exit, they were just in time to see the Squid-Form Inkling leap out of the exit and into the terribly harsh sunlight with all the grace of an Elite Octoling, still in possession of their Zapfish._ _Current Task: FAILED X1: Did not spot Inkling Intruder. FAILED X2: Did not retrieve Zapfish nor splat the Inkling. FAILED X3: Did not protect #376, #365, or #370 from being splatted by Inkling Intruder. (Note: I feel awful.)_

 ** _11:36 am_** _\- Octarian Base #13_

 _"_ _Cuttlefish," She spoke through the agent headphones, "if this is another decoy we're going to have to find a better way of locating the REAL Zapfish before I go off on another big search down here." […] "We -Agents One and Two and I- have been working on it. I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually." The old squid didn't sound very confident._

 _#377's Current Task: Warn all Octotroopers about glowing green ink = Inkling presence. Encourage this knowledge being passed to new Troopers. […] (note: I must NOT fail)._

* * *

 ** _~Chapter Six: Sea Arrow's Phenomenon~_**

 ** _4:26 pm_** _\- January the Ninth (after a good lot of thinking and a change of gear): Urchin Underpass_

Now, THIS was better. Even after a brief trip down in those Octarian Bases, she already appreciated the sunlight and colours of Turf War matches more than ever. Willow's (bubblegum pink) team had almost complete control of the stage, and so far none of the other team had yet managed to make a dent in their defence. Oh, they'd tried. But they'd got splatted. _(Take THAT, Ink-Kid!)_ Thought Willow as his teammate got caught out by somebody's well-aimed bomb.

She turned a corner and found herself facing a whole lot of green ink- which in this particular Advanced Class Turf Match, was not good at all. She ran straight into the area, covering up as much of the neon green as she possibly could with her own favourite bubblegum pink, only to turn around and find her work completely undermined by none other than Ink-Kid and his old battered carbon roller, geared up in a thick green and white long sleeved jumper and a pair of trainers matching the colour scheme. He _still_ didn't wear a hat. Willow may have been biased, but she still considered her own backwards cap, hoodie and boot combination to be fresher.

"At last, we meet today!" The Inkling boy announced loudly, flinging his roller to the ground and rolling straight for her. Willow responded by shooting him in the face with her Aerospray MG, forcing the other squid to stop the rush and dive into his own green ink to recover. She wasn't about to just stand around while he did, though- instead, she began covering all the green ink she could see in an attempt to flush him out.

Luck was not on her side and she heard a loud splash from behind her as Ink-Kid leapt out of his hiding place, his roller held far above his head and ready to squash Willow as it came down. She dived into her own ink and just narrowly avoided being squashed, after which she quickly tossed a seeker bomb to Ink-Kid's right and swam in the opposite direction, ready to splat him the second he moved- or make sure the seeker got him, whichever was faster.

For once (and despite the roller), the green-tentacled boy was faster and dived between his own spots of ink, chased all the way around their little area by the shots from Willow's Aerospray. After diving a circle around Willow and having run out of turf to dive in, he suddenly switched forms and flung a wave of ink at the pink-tentacled teen, forcing her to stop the attack and dodge to the side at once, while the seeker exploded and was forgotten.

After that Willow was low on ink so the tables were turned and it was Ink-Kid chasing her around with his roller, though she could have swam circles around him if only those rollers weren't so efficient at covering turf. She leapt out of her ink and switched forms, turning around to shoot at Ink-Kid who was hoisting his roller over his shoulder in preparation for a massive attack!

The mutual attack that occurred afterwards made Willow and Ink-Kid's vision fill with blobs of pink and green ink as they tried their very best to splat each other in hopes of earning a point over the other. Willow wasn't deterred by the alleged OP-ness of being used to using a roller any more than Ink-Kid was intimidated by Willow's intense speed and equally intense gaze. Some unfortunate outsider who could have been on either team made the mistake of getting in the way and was splatted before either of them even realised they were there.

That, right then in the heat of battle, was when Willow remembered that she had a missing-Zapfish related problem to solve and that her newfound rival might just be helpful. "You! Me! Booyah Base right after this, okay?!" She yelled at Ink-Kid all of a sudden, making him jump in surprise as Willow usually NEVER talked in a Turf War.

"Yeah-" he started, but was cut off in shock as Willow's tentacles suddenly flared into glowing pink energy, signifying that her special was ready. She didn't waste half a second acknowledging this fact, she just activated her special and started blasting the Inkzooker right at Ink-Kid's face and to the left and right of him with blinding speed. There was no dodging an onslaught like that in a battlefield scattered with spots of enemy ink. "-sure?" Squeaked (and it was SO a squeak) Ink-Kid just as he was splatted and his little spirit-squid (his Core) was reeled in by his team's respawn pad.

Willow allowed herself a triumphant smirk even as she ran deeper into green-ink rebellion territory, blasting her Inkzooka as much as possible. _(Ink-Kid: 102. Sea Arrow: 103.)_ She thought with much relish. Naturally, her team won that match by a rainstorm.

* * *

 _"_ _You! Me! Booyah Base right after this, okay?!" Sea Arrow yelled at him at the most inconvenient time possible._

 _(Sea-Arrow: 103. Ink-Kid: 102.)_ He thought, somewhat glumly. He leaned near the entrance to Booyah Base, casually flicking through people's latest posts on his phone. There were a lot of heated discussions about wether Ink-Kid or Sea Arrow would come out on top in the end, commenting that Ink-Kid stood out more (triggering a small side conversation on the Phenomenon of Invisible Sea Arrow), but that Sea Arrow (if one really paid attention) had a WAY better sense of Freshness. There were similar conversations about other pairs of rivals as well.

Jack couldn't help but feel a _little_ annoyed as he thought of his group of videogaming friends playing Turf War without him while he waited here because Sea Arrow wanted to meet him here for some reason. Squinting, he tried to pick her out in the crowd but it was a no go. Odd, seeing as they'd left Inkopolis Tower's Lobby at the same time and she just happened to stop walking in order to retie a shoelace or something then was GONE the second he turned around.

 _(The Phenomenon of Invisible Sea Arrow strikes again!)_ He thought, trying not to suddenly burst out laughing.

"I'm right here." Her sarcastic voice suddenly appeared right next to him, making him jump and nearly drop his phone. He turned to look at her in surprise, because he'd somehow managed to miss her on the way there. She sighed inwardly (one Inkling can always tell if another does that) at the look on his face, regarding him with her usual half-closed eyes. Then she continued, "I've got a bit of a… Missing Zapfish case."

"There's been a lot of those recently." He replied, shrugging. Jack wondered where she was going with this. On the other hand, she was actually being _social_. That had to mean something good. Or maybe just… something.

"So I'm looking for some kind of machine that can help track the little fish down. Have you ever heard of something like that?" Sea Arrow asked, leaning against the wall and folding her arms.

"Well, there's these little machines my folks back at the countryside use…" Jack replied in a thoughtful tone, resisting the urge to look up at the sky in case Sea Arrow disappeared again. Hey, it could happen. That Phenomenon was an actual thing as far as Jack and the rest of the Gaming Gang were concerned. "But they'd never work in the city. Too much electricity and way too many Zapfish whizzing around. Besides, why're you asking ME, anyway?"

"I told you. Missing Zapfish issue. And you're the only one who's kept sight of me today for over three minutes straight." She stated this like it was an ordinary everyday problem, and huffed slightly as Jack just stared at her. "Luck isn't with me today and the issue's pretty urgent. Besides, I haven't got a clue which stores might actually sell some kind of Zapfish-Tracker, and I was hoping you would know."

Well, _that_ was a problem Jack could actually understand. He'd had similar shop-finding problems when he'd first moved here from the countryside. Of course, he knew where everything was now thanks to having made a handy group of friends at the Videogame Centre and Turf Wars. And he'd be pleased to help someone -especially someone as fresh as Sea-Arrow- find the thing they were looking for.

"I'll show you to a few Machinery Stores if you like, but if they haven't got what you're looking for you'd best ask Sheldon- or even better, his Weaponry Apprentice." Jack advised, keeping his eyes on Sea Arrow- just in case. "She really knows her stuff when it comes to technology. But I'm warning you now, she's _just_ as bad as Sheldon when it comes to rambling, and she's about ten times louder."

"Oh, joy…" groaned Sea Arrow, rolling her eyes, "That is most definitely my last resort, then. So, mind showing me to those Machinery Stores?"

Jack didn't mind, so they went to the one in Booyah Base first, though it was woefully inadequate in general and, sure enough, the Jelling there had never even heard of the sort of machine Sea Arrow was looking for. So they headed out into Wider Inkopolis.

* * *

 ** _5:17 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

Inkopolis, Jack thought, was an incredibly crowded place. He and Sea Arrow ended up having to slip their way through the crowds of Jellings and past a multicoloured school trip full of sticky kids who had yet to master Shifting Forms.

Sea Arrow thought they were cute (the first personal opinion he'd ever gotten from her) and Jack thought they were just sticky and troublesome. They silently agreed to disagree until the day a Splatfest on the subject showed up- yeah, like _that_ would ever happen. But you never know, the Powers that Be might deem it so.

Getting past the crowds was made more difficult because as the more time wore on, the more his eyes were tempted to just… slide over Sea Arrow. More than once she'd seemed to just melt away into the crowd right in front of his eyes, as if his brain was convinced she was graffiti in the background. _Average_ graffiti. It was the strangest thing he'd ever experienced. Even confronting the alien trying to steal his father's crops hadn't come close! Jack soon realised he'd have to get used to it if he wanted to try and focus on Sea Arrow so he wouldn't accidentally lose her. She'd surely _never_ forgive him if that happened…

 ** _5:34 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

"Nope. Never heard of that. Sorry."

 ** _6:12 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

"Can't help you. Those things are useless in a huge city like this, ya know."

 ** _6:47 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

"Try next door, we're more of a phone shop…"

"We don't have that."

 ** _7:54 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

"Hmm? Oh. No, we can't make custom stuff."

 ** _8:31 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

"We just don't have the parts. They're expensive, and we don't usually build that kind of thing."

 ** _9:21 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

"It's impossible with today's technology, I say."

 ** _10:15 pm_** _\- Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

"I'm fairly sure a thing like that doesn't exist! Would be useful though. Sorry I can't help."

"No problem…" Sea Arrow replied to that last shopkeeper somewhat glumly before leaving the shop with Jack -whose eyes were complaining about focusing on his rival- trailing after her. "Was that really ALL of them?" She asked him, turning to look right at him. Jack didn't reply immediately because he suddenly saw that her eyes were _glowing_. They were jade as always, but they _glowed_. Did she know that?

"Sea Arrow, your eyes are _glowing_!" He blurted out all of a sudden. She gave him a disbelieving look in return.

"Some people's eyes just do that, you know." She pointedly replied, "It took you this long to notice?" Jack had the grace to feel a little embarrassed.

"Er… Anyway, yeah, um, that's the last of the stores I know of. I guess you'll be speaking to Sheldon and his apprentice tomorrow." He offered her a somewhat nervous grin. Her face twitched into the ghost of a smile, which was as close as she got (that wasn't a smirk), really.

"I guess so," She replied in a disappointed voice, "but thanks a bunch anyway for helping me out all afternoon." Her voice, in the space of that one sentence, went from slightly disappointed to the warmest and most sincere tone Jack had ever heard.

Once they were back at Inkopolis Square, they said "Bye" to one another and Jack promised to beat her in Turf Wars the next time they saw each other, to which Sea Arrow told him off for making a promise he couldn't keep. She then turned and walked away.

Jack challenged himself to try and squint after her for as long as possible, but a second later he blinked and she was GONE, just some other squid in a plaza dedicated to Turf War-playing squids.


	8. Chapter 7: Kelp Dome Confrontation

_Last Time…_

 ** _4:26 pm_** _\- January the Ninth (after a good lot of thinking and a change of gear): Urchin Underpass_

 _Right then in the heat of battle was when Willow remembered that she had a missing-Zapfish related problem to solve and that her newfound rival might just be helpful. "You! Me! Booyah Base right after this, okay?!" She yelled. […] "Yeah- […] -sure?" Squeaked Ink-Kid just as he was splatted and his little spirit-squid (his Core) was reeled in by his team's respawn pad._

 _"_ _I'll show you to a few Machinery Stores if you like, but if they haven't got what you're looking for you'd best ask Sheldon- or even better, his Weaponry Apprentice." Jack advised, keeping his eyes on Sea Arrow- just in case. "She really knows her stuff when it comes to technology. But I'm warning you now, she's_ _just_ _as bad as Sheldon when it comes to rambling, and she's about ten times louder."_

 ** _5:17 pm_** _\- Western Wider Inkopolis (General Shopping District)_

 _The more time wore on, the more his eyes were tempted to just… slide over Sea Arrow. More than once she'd seemed to just melt away into the crowd right in front of his eyes, as if his brain was convinced she was graffiti in the background._ _Average_ _graffiti._

 ** _10:15 pm_** _-_ _[…] "Sorry, I can't help." […] "Er… Anyway, yeah, um, that's the last of the stores I know of. I guess you'll be speaking to Sheldon and his apprentice tomorrow." Jack offered her a somewhat nervous grin. […] "I guess so," She replied in a disappointed voice, "but thanks a bunch anyway for helping me out all afternoon." Her voice, in the space of that one sentence, went from slightly disappointed to the warmest and most sincere tone Jack had ever heard._

 _She turned and walked away. […] Jack challenged himself to try and squint after her for as long as possible, but a second later he blinked and she was GONE._

* * *

 ** _~Chapter Seven: Kelp Dome Confrontation!~_**

 ** _2:26 am_** _-January the Tenth: Kelp Dome_

"Finally! We got the drop on them!" Agent One was whispering excitedly, gripping her roller and readying her stance at their respawn point as if she were about to just jump in there, "I can see the sack of Zapfish already! Poor Zapfish, being shoved into bags by Octolings, we should rescue them right now-"

Agent Two shushed her absentmindedly, examining an electrical map of the area. The small, Electropad-like device had already scanned the area and located all five Octolings. The situation was simple. This was a raid. The Octolings had stolen a few loose Zapfish on the way here. The system mistook them for Turf Warrers and gave them a respawn pad. Luckily, it did the same with Agents One and Two. Two Octolings were guarding the Zapfish-filled sack near their respawn point while the other three were spilled in different directions, probably searching for Kelp Dome's Zapfish.

"Agent One." Whispered Two, "We're going for Plan C. Tell me NOW if you don't remember what that is, okay?"

"No, I remember." One confirmed while Two briefly tried to work out how One could _see_ at all this late at night though those _sunglasses_ of hers. One shifted the grip on her Anti-Octarian Roller and looked back at Two, briefly marvelling at how she managed to _breathe_ in a heated greenhouse with that _mask_ of hers!

All of a sudden, One screeched, "AGENT ONE OF THE NEW SQUIDBEAK SPLATOON, _ROLLING_ THROUGH!"

"Oh, ha ha ha." Sarcastically remarked Two, hiding in the ink of the re-spawn pad as all the Octolings bar one started moving in One's direction.

Agent One rushed round the stage, yelling as many octopus, roller and kelp related puns as she could possibly think of, her roller leaving a brightly-glowing trail of green ink wherever she went even as she dived in it from time to time, doubling back and catching the Octolings by surprise.

Meanwhile, Agent Two charged up her Anti-Octarian Charger and fired away from One's distraction, charging the charger as she swam to quickly and discreetly get close enough to splat the Octoling guarding the Zapfish. The charger left a somewhat thin green line running across the stage. She fired again, and again as she climbed her way to the top of Kelp Dome, running across the grating to find her shot.

One turned her roller so that it was pointed vertically and spun tightly around on the spot several times, sending glowing green ink in a wide circle around herself and therefore forcing the surrounding Octolings to duck into their own glowing purple-red ink and circle the agent as if they were sharks. Agent One gave them a grin that showed off her own pointy squid-beak fangs.

Two charged one more shot, kneeling and carefully looking into the aiming window. She quickly lined up the laser beam with the Octoling guarding the Zapfish sack and fired. Time slowed down for Two's shot. The narrow, glowing green beam with its blue highlights whizzed towards the extremely-short tentacled Octoling… who ducked, ever so slightly, and Two's shot _just_ grazed the top of the Octoling's single visible tentacle.

 _(Those Octo-slobs don't stand a chance!)_ Agent One cheered in her mind as she lifted her roller with frankly unusual strength and swung it, sending a great storm of Inkling Ink all over the Octo Ink and flushing them out of hiding, the sent it down towards the first Octoling she spotted. The Octoling turned out to be an Elite Octoling as the strong glow of the ink revealed jet-black tentacles and gravity-defying kelp which rapidly whipped from side to side as the enemy swiftly dodged One's roller.

The Octoling guard looked from side to side, and Agent Two silently charged another shot. With a whizz, the ink headed straight to the Octoling, who ever-so-slightly leaned back so that this time, the shot didn't get him at all. Time slowed down again as the shot passed just under the Octoling's large creepy goggles, which then followed the line of the shot and locked straight onto Agent Two. In a blink the enemy grabbed the sack with one hand and inked the surrounding turf, diving into his own ink and rapidly heading towards Agent Two!

All four Octolings and Agent One noticed when the sack of Zapfish was moved. The Elite Octoling yelled something in Octese through a tiny microphone on those creepy goggles and swam off at once, with one of the other three Octolings dashing off after her. Agent One moved to follow but was forced to double back as the remaining two Octolings fired their octoshots at her. Agent One winced slightly as the glowing purple globs landed a few hits, but was quickly recovered by a dip in her own patch of ink. With her ink tank refilled, she could not help but shout "BOOYAH!" at the top of her voice as her roller swooped down on them from the side and they spent half a second too long gawking in shock to successfully dodge.

Agent Two ran, charging her charger at the same time and firing shot after shot with pinpoint accuracy at the Octoling illuminated by the sack of Zapfish, almost as if this were a game of rainmaker except the one with the rainmaker was chasing _her_ down instead of the other way round.

Shot after shot _just_ missed as the Octoling didn't break the speed for half a second, instead just leaping from side to side and switching from octopus to kid as the enemy ran n' swam forwards, always firing the octoshot at her and turfing the ground in front with almost _incephalopod_ efficiency. _(Do these Octolings to NOTHING but steal Zapfish and train to fight Inklings?!)_ Agent Two thought as she spun round to face the octopus and charged one last shot, aimed directly at the enemy's chest.

The black-tentacled agent didn't pause to watch the Octolings' Cores get reeled in by the respawn pad, instead slamming her roller to the ground and running towards the beacon sent by the sack of Zapfish, where the Elite Octoling and the other one were headed. She inked the wall with great speed (for a roller user) and climbed up to the grating bridge, from which she held her roller up and ran to where Agent Two was about to get cornered by those Octolings!

Just as the Octoling got close enough to actually manage to shoot her, Agent Two fired. Not even that incephalopod octopus could dodge a shot at that range, and he was splatted, leaving an ink-covered sack of (probably traumatised) Zapfish behind. "AGENT TWO, LOOK OOOUUUUUT!" Agent One shrieked, and instead of quizzically (and very, very stupidly) looking behind her, Agent Two switched forms and fell through the grating just as the Octolings sneaking behind her fired their octoshots and were promptly crushed by Agent One's roller.

Agent One tossed the sack down and followed, grinning like a maniac. Agent Two smiled behind her mask, enjoying the thrill of having just narrowly won. "Plan C is a total success!" One announced, holding up her roller in victory.

"Not until we get out of here." Two reminded her with a cool gaze.

"Well, let's GO then!" One said, and got a good hold on the sack of Zapfish before the two of them superjumped out.

* * *

 ** _3:07 am_** _\- Shady Alley, Inkopolis Plaza._

The last Zapfish whizzed into the plain black sky, flashing and buzzing happily with electricity as it set off back to wherever it had come from. Amazingly, Spyke remained fast asleep in the corner and didn't even react in any way to the noise. Maybe one had to be a heavy sleeper to sleep right at the heart of the biggest city of Inklings in the world.

"Well, looks like that's the last of 'em." Stated Agent Two, greatly relieved, "I guess we got those goons before they managed to steal too many Zapfish." She took a deep breath of nice, cool air and attached her charger back to the holder on the right side of her ink-tank.

"I dunno," Agent One commented, leaning against her currently torch-like roller, "Five Zapfish is _way, way,_ less than average. And there aren't even any more Octolings in town, we scanned the entire city using the GPS System, remember?"

"Well, they could hardly have hidden an _entire SACK_ of _incredibly bright_ Zapfish." Two pointed out in a flat tone of voice.

* * *

 ** _3:08 am_** _\- Unknown, Wider Inkopolis_

"How did you manage to hide an _entire SACK_ of _incredibly bright_ Zapfish?!" Asked one of the squad, who was standing right next to Cathrine and seemed unbothered by the bitter cold (and also whom she could not identify thanks to the Octoling Corps uniform) to Oscar, who was equally unaffected, though at leat _he_ was identifiable by virtue of being a boy (the uniform was slightly different). He blankly looked towards the Commander in answer.

"Yes, Oscar, do answer that question." Amiably agreed Cathrine (her goggles hanging round her neck, unlike the others'), as she hadn't seen him do it either. The squad had just started a new sack when Oscar had slipped off with their first sack and somehow hidden it when none of them were looking.

The strange boy didn't answer. Instead, he pulled a large black cloth off a wooden crate that had a gentle golden glow. The rest of the squad and their Commander stared.

"Where'd you get the cloth?" Asked another of Cathrine's squad.

"I picked it up on the way." He flatly replied while opening the box and removing the blindingly-glowing sack, "I believe our mission was a success?"

"Certainly." Cathrine confirmed with a nod of her head.

* * *

The bitter cold of the January night/early morning (depends on who you ask) was starting to get to them. Agent One shivered, hugging her roller and leaning closer to Agent Two, who affectionally rolled her eyes and placed an arm around her while smiling gently under the mask. She would never understand how One managed to lug that thing around.

On Two's back was her ink tank and next to it, in its own particular holder, was her Anti-Octoling Charger. In her other hand, she held a walkie-talkie up to her ear and listened to their gramps talk. "Well done girls!" Cap'n Cuttlefish was saying, "Sounds like you managed to stop 'em before they could rob half of Inkopolis again! By the way, we've got an Agent Three now."

"Who is it?" Two asked as One yawned loudly.

"Sea Arrow, that er… "fresh" kid Agent One was talking about. She hasn't been part of the Splatoon for long but she's already proven to be really good at raiding the basic Octarian Bases."

"Yeah, any old Turf War expert could do that." Stated Agent Two, rolling her eyes and nudging One so she wouldn't fall asleep 'till they got back to the flat.

"Not sure if you noticed, but her eyes glow! That means she's got potential! And besides, by the way she's been going around an' askin' questions of me, I'd say you two picked a squid who knows what's what."

"Looking forward to working with her." Said Agent Two, shrugging, "Let me know if she ever does anything big, 'kay Gramps? Bye, hope to visit you soon. Maybe." Then she cut off the connection.

Back at their flat, Callie of the Squid Sisters dropped her roller and ink tank before flopping onto the sofa and promptly falling deeply asleep, her tentacles waving gently off the edge of the plush cream cushions. Marie of the Squid Sisters looked down at her, gentle smile visible as she pulled down her white mask, letting out a great yawn that rivalled Callie's record-breaking one from the last time they'd had to deal with late-night Octoling raids.

"Goodnight, Callie." The uber-famous popstar said just before changing to pyjamas and going to her own room for a (hopefully) nice, long rest. _(Ha,)_ Marie commented at her own thought, _(like the news people are gonna take it well if we sleep in_ _every_ _time those Octarians cause trouble.)_ Still, maybe they wouldn't mind, just this once.


	9. Chapter 8: Civilian Octopia

**What do you think of this story? Let me know in the reviews.**

 _Last Time…_

 ** _2:26 am_** _-January the Tenth: Kelp Dome_

 _"_ _Finally! We got the drop on them!" Agent One was whispering excitedly. […] "Agent One." Whispered Agent Two, "We're going for Plan C." […] Agent One's […] roller [splatted] the two Octolings from the side, [before] slamming her roller to the ground and running towards the Elite Octoling and the other one. […] Just as the Octoling got close enough to shoot her, Agent Two fired. […] he was splatted, leaving an ink-covered sack of Zapfish behind. "AGENT TWO, LOOK OOOUUUUUT!" Agent One shrieked. […] Agent Two switched forms and fell through the grating just as the Octolings sneaking behind her fired their octoshots and were promptly crushed by Agent One's roller._

 _Agent One tossed the sack down and followed, grinning like a maniac. […] "Well, looks like that's the last of 'em." Stated Agent Two, greatly relieved, "I guess we got those goons before they managed to steal too many Zapfish." […] "I dunno," Agent One commented, […] "Five Zapfish is_ _way, way,_ _less than average. And there aren't even any more Octolings in town, we scanned the entire city using the GPS System, remember?" […] "Well, they could hardly have hidden an_ _entire SACK_ _of_ _incredibly bright_ _Zapfish." Two pointed out in a flat tone of voice._

 ** _3:08 am_** _\- Unknown, Wider Inkopolis_

 _"_ _How did you manage to hide an_ _entire SACK_ _of_ _incredibly bright_ _Zapfish?!" Asked the octoling. Oscar didn't answer. Instead, he pulled a large black cloth off a wooden crate that had a gentle golden glow [before] opening the box and removing the blindingly-glowing sack. "I believe our mission was a success?" […] "Certainly." Cathrine confirmed with a nod of her head._

 _Agent Two held a walkie-talkie up to her ear. "Well done girls!" Cap'n Cuttlefish was saying, "By the way, we've got an Agent Three now." […] "Looking forward to working with her." Said Agent Two, shrugging. Then she cut off the connection. […] Back at their flat, Callie […] flopped onto the sofa and promptly fell deeply asleep. […] "Goodnight, Callie." Marie said just before changing to pyjamas and going to her own room for a (hopefully) nice, long rest._

* * *

 ** _~Chapter Eight: Civillian Octopia~_**

 ** _5:58 am_** _\- January the Tenth: Floor ?, ?_

 _Mission: Actively Investigate Cathrine Catfish and her squad in such a manner that none of them notice said investigation. Report all results._

Current happenings: The rest of Catfish's Zapfish Collection Squad had gone home for a "well-deserved rest" after having sent the Zapfish on to the Electricity Management Department. For whatever reason, Catfish saw fit to keep him behind. This was cause for worry as it could mean his mission was in danger of being compromised. On the other hand, the Elite Octoling Commander could be handing him a great opportunity to conduct his own investigation.

"What is it, Commander?" Asked Two-Sixteen.

Observation: Catfish appeared to be experiencing a range of emotions, everything from fear to pity. Out of general politeness as this situation was clearly not business, his response was to lower his own goggles and reveal whatever he might express as the Commander was. Catfish's reaction to this was to be shocked and begin speaking in an unfamiliar, gentle tone of voice.

"Oscar… have you ever seen the _real_ Octopia?" Catfish earnestly asked, to which he shook his head as he interpreted this to mean Civilian Octopia, the city which stretched from Floor B8 to all the floors below it.

If he remembered correctly, Civilian Octopia was a total of eighteen floors where everybody but The Faction lived, and that the upper half of the floors (informally known as "Higher Octopia") were where people such as the Octoling Corps and the Electricity Research Department and their families lived.

The lower half (informally known as "Market Octopia") being for everybody else and their local businesses. "Well, since you're in the Octoling Corps and therefore second-most likely to be splatted by the New Squidbeak Splatoon," (The most likely were the Octarian Zapfish Guard) "I feel that you ought to learn about the homes and people you're risking your life to protect."

Once-Him had lived there with his family. He knew he resembled Once-Him in many ways, but he was not him and it would be horribly cruel to appear before Once-Him's family now. There were _very good reasons_ why The Faction didn't go down there… But to explain all that to Catfish would compromise his mission, and his mission came first. This was an opportunity of observe her that he should not and would not miss. In response to this reasoning, he nodded and followed Catfish down the hall. _(Note: I am surprisingly curious.)_

* * *

 ** _6:32 am_** _\- Floor B10, Civilian Octopia_

He'd kept an eye and trained an ear on Catfish the whole time, but so far she had not said nor done anything of significant importance. So far, Civilian Octopia did not seem all that different to the Upper Bases, save that the general population of octopi seemed to have put great effort into decorating the gloomy place with small, common gems or little candles with odd scents, along with a great many carvings into the stone.

Truthfully, it was fascinating. No wonder the Leader wished to protect it so much that- _(Note: I must find out if Commander Catfish is neglecting any other duties in favour of this "tour". She is an Elite Octoling and surely does not have this much free time?)_ "Commander?"

"Yes, Oscar?" She replied with a surprisingly friendly expression. He was puzzled by this, but could not complete the thought and thus abandoned it.

"Excuse me for asking, but…" He paused for what he judged to be an adequate amount of time, "Do you not have more… important matters to attend to? I am not classified as "important"."

Observation: At this mere stating of fact, Catfish's reflective yellow eyes turned down and she, her tentacles and even her kelp drooped slightly in a gesture of… _(Note: I cannot identify this gesture. I must check in with Squads One, Two, Three or Four as their posts at the Academy branches may allow them access to this information.)_ Upon recognising his nonrecognition of her Expression, she answered his question.

"Oscar, you _are_ important! But actually… no. Not at all. For whatever reason, I tend to get left to my own devices. Actually…" Catfish paused in thought for a moment, then added, "I'm supposed to be timetabling raids and checking in with the other Elite Octoling Commanders. But between you and me, I got that sorted for this entire month last week. So I've scheduled myself to spend some extra time getting to know my squad!" His reaction was to blink. "I imagined you'd all do a good job getting to know eachother as well."

That was not his mission, unless Catfish was a traitor and they had been involved in her probable schemes. However, the information he'd gained thus far was consistent with what the Leader believed. Therefore, it appeared that she was genuinely on their side despite her strange information regarding Inklings.

Safe in this knowledge, he continued to glance around at the odd reminders of the old Octoling culture he had learned much about. Octolings, wearing various outfits deprived from older Octoling Corps uniforms, were beginning to leave their homes and go about their business. Not one of them wore protective goggles- of course not. Nobody here was technically on business unless they went up to the Upper Bases or the New Squidbeak Splatoon somehow got down here.

There were a few Octarians down here too, looking surprisingly dignified despite their literally being walking tentacles. He tried to hide his face from them, lest somebody mistakenly see Once-Him through his eyes, before focusing once again on his mission.

The Elite Octoling and himself made their way down to the lower floors, and the lower they got the more fascinating the entire place was… in a pale, dying sort of way. They reached a section that had been roped off in reflective tape due to collapse, and a memory of a black roof lit by thousands of brilliant, tiny white lights flashed in front of his eyes before it faded, leaving him to wonder if it was here that Once-Him had lived.

"Are you okay?" Commander Catfish kindly asked, for a reason he could not discern.

"I am currently in moderate condition as lack of sleep has recently fatigued me." Reported Two-Sixteen to the Elite Octoling Commander, "My emotions remain stable as always."

She asked no more questions but one: "If you've never been down here before… where _do_ you sleep?"

Two-Sixteen's three hearts jumped- Civilian Octpiia was a total of eighteen floors where _everybody but The Faction lived_. How could he have not taken such a fact into account when answering Commander Cathrine Catfish?! _(Such a simple slip-up..! This could lead her to suspect..! I must proceed with extreme caution!)_ Luckily, the older octopus chose not to press the issue while he composed a suitable answer.

"I simply meant earlier that I have never explored this place much, as I do not require my own place to live. I simply share an old emergency housing bunk with others that I know." The best lie, he knew, was one with a drop of truth. He certainly didn't require his own place, and he did indeed share a small room with the rest of Squad Sixteen. And there certainly were emergency bunks at the Upper Bases. But Commander Catfish need not know the details. Nobody but The Faction and their Leader need know.

Observation: Catfish accepted this explanation with another drooping gesture, her eyes appearing to dim as she looked down, away from the flickering candlelights. However, he decided to continue proceeding with extreme caution- just in case _she_ was covertly investigating _him_.

However, nothing else of note occurred as Catfish led the two of them back up to the Upper Bases, apparently under the impression that he would like to rest. Two-Sixteen would do so after reporting the event, as always, to his Leader.

Just as they reached the stairs between Floors B7 and B6, Catfish said one more thing for him to think about: "Y'know, when I first got here, I didn't mean to stay. I was simply… catching up to my roots, really. But all that changed halfway through my intended visit when the lights started going out, bit by bit. They were lovely, bright, white lights that were strung all around the corridors and embedded in the roof- actually, they're still there, just… put out. Slowly but surely, each set of lights went out and despite what the electricity was being re-routed to, I heard many tales of the deterioration and collapse of many a home, often squashing people and, even if they _were_ Octolings they were far, far from any respawn pads- too far to make it, more often than not."

He listened carefully, though wary at the sudden speech. Perhaps something about his responses toward her had prompted such a speech. He resolved to work it out as soon as he could.

"After that, I could not go back to live on the surface, knowing what the innocent octopi down here were suffering through, an..!" _(Note: Catfish sounded like she was about to add something there, then immediately omitted it. Perhaps I will receive that information with time and patience.)_

"and I chose to stay and use whatever knowledge I had to help resolve the situation. Sadly, partly due to the New Squidbeak Splatoon and partly due to the unforgiving forces of nature, the situation only got worse, and eventually even the white lights of the roofs were put out… That last one was fairly recently- well, to an older adult like me, anyway. Still, I daresay you might have seen them once before they went out..?"

"Yes." It wasn't really a lie… sort of. Once-Him had indeed seen those lights she spoke of. Something stirred in his Core as an image of those lights once again flashed in his eyes… "May I go to sleep, now?"

Obser- Obser… Ob- … … … _(His grandmother called them the stars. Octopus Technology made the stars shine down here, he thought… Once, he dreamed of seeing the_ _real_ _stars, the ones set in the roof of the surface. Once-Me… what other dreams did he have..?)_ Unable to shake his thoughts for the first time, he headed upstairs- intent on sleeping, so that his mind would be put back to normal and he could report this increasingly strange incident with adequate accuracy.

Speechless at the question, the Elite Octoling behind him simply nodded as he ran up the stairs.

* * *

 ** _8:46 am_** _\- Floor B7 (Close to stairs leading to B8), Upper Bases_

Cathrine Catfish could have cheered if the truth of the matter weren't so dark- she'd gotten through to him. For a second there, Oscar's face had at last betrayed some kind of expression, albeit a mixture she couldn't interpret despite her life-long experience. She didn't _think_ her story had hurt him… She hoped it hadn't.

But up until now, he'd shown every sign of being a robot. That was more common with young Octarians, as they were clones created via a complicated procedure starting with severed Octoling tentacles, and tended to "awaken" as people after having experienced the world for a while- but Oscar was clearly an Octoling.

 _They_ couldn't be created by anything other than normal means, and besides, it had been illegal to try since the Clone Experimentation Ban of around 1,000 years ago- which was put there after Octarians were recognised as octopi, but also (and slightly more importantly) after the Octolings' ancestors discovered that experimenting with the amounts of energy required for life had strange and terrible effects on their Cores…

Shaking her mind away from the sudden onslaught of historical facts (left over from her previous training to be a historian, before she'd first come here), Cathrine walked down a randomly-picked nearby corridor and picked up her goggles, somewhat awkwardly holding them up so that she could put in the radio code for a certain young Elite Octoling who'd been keeping in contact ever since the Meeting of the Authorities. "Hello? Engineer Ida, can you talk right now? It's not urgent."

"Commander Catfish? Yes, I can talk. The Wasabi Supply Unit probably won't be busy until Otta and the others get back from the Salmonid Isles. And remember, you _can_ call me "Marina". I mean, you've been an Elite longer than I have!"

"Okay, then _you_ can call me "Cathrine". Speaking of Otta and the others, did anything interesting happen with them before they left with your prototype life-preservers?" Asked Cathrine, keeping a steady pace up and down the corridor.

"But… um…"

"Really, it's okay, Marina."

"Alright then… um… Cathrine. And no… They're all still as emotionless as ever. Otta and the rest never even take their octoleet goggles off. How's Oscar? Is he still the same too?"

Cathrine smiled, though the young Engineer prodigy couldn't see it. That was the trouble with these radios, you could only speak in words. She'd gotten used to it, and doubtless everyone else here had grown up with it, but to Cathrine it still felt uncomfortably like she was only speaking half the language. That was why she preferred speaking Inklish over the phone with her sister- that language was all words!

"Actually, I took him on a little tour around Floors B9 and B10 today, and I think I got through to him- a little. He suddenly got the strangest expression I've ever seen once I was done telling him the story of why I stuck around down here, and he seemed quite concerned over some local rubble… but the way he talked… you'd think he doesn't consider himself cephalopod- or, well, a person in general!"

"Oh no…" There was a deep intake of breath from the other end, "That's exactly what Otta and her crew are like… they school together like herring, but I get the feeling they feel as if they aren't cephalopod either. And Cathrine…"

All of a sudden, Cathrine Catfish felt a prickling sensation run through her, as if somebody had just sprinkled rain water over her tentacles. It was an ominous instinct, and any sensible octopus soon learned to pay close attention to their instinct.

"They aren't the only ones."


End file.
